


... timeless . ageless . changeless ...

by XDDD



Series: Ipsen Avon [2]
Category: Final Fantasy VII
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-02-27
Updated: 2016-05-08
Packaged: 2018-06-07 04:17:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 58,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6784870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XDDD/pseuds/XDDD
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Immortalized by the alien cells within them, Cloud and Vincent are now mercenaries of time. Sent back in time to retrieve a valuable artifact, they meet up with an ancient foe not quite in the same way...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Standard disclaimers apply.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... timeless . ageless . changeless ...  
\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... one

 

The Shinra patrol guard was bored.

Walk left, walk right, look around, walk left, walk right, look around, pick up some trash, walk left, walk right, look around, yawn, walk left, walk right, hi-five the poor soul coming to take his place in the last watch and get back to the barracks to faze out for tomorrow.

It was the same thing every night.

On a moment of impulse he leaned against the wall, looking up at the clouded Midgar skies, wondering what he was doing. As far as he was concerned, resistance to Shinra was virtually non-existence - seeing that they had just won the war over Wutai a couple of months ago. As a guard he never did understand the President's wanton need for absolutely security, albeit it was really none of his concern. He folded his arms around himself to try to keep warm. Midgar was a desert in some sense and desert nights were never too comfortable. A couple of seconds later he decided he had had enough of rest and stood. Briefly he scanned the terrain he was about to stalk in.

And they caught his eye.

There they stood.

Quiet.

Serene.

Nondescript.

The shorter one had a hood over his head, and a veil beneath that for added measure. He calmly assessed a hand-held apparatus of sorts, with wires sticking out at the edges, teeming with invisible activity. The taller one had a crop of raven hair - black as midnight, pouring gracefully over his shoulders, which he looked over for any signs of danger, lest anybody prove to be of harm to them both. The shorter one wore a cloak which stretched beyond the ground to ripple out from beneath him. The taller man had a cape of similar design, which swished about softly as he took wary notes of the surroudings.

Suddenly the man glanced into the guard's eye. Immediately, he was rendered immobile.

He saw eyes of amber-red brilliance. They bore through his soul. They pinned down his spirit.

But that was the last of the two strangers of the night he could remember, before he slumped into a peaceful slumber - destined to be found only by the one who would be taking over his duties on the next shift.

The man in the hood looked up and blinked through his veil.

"Oh wow," his voice was soft and hollow, despite the obvious effort to sound enthusiastic, "I didn't even notice him."

"You are going to get into trouble one day," the taller man unloaded the tranquilizer magazine from his gun and reloaded it with something more lethal.

His companion wisely chose to ignore that stab at his integrity and instead commented, "Well, what do you know. We're back where it all began."

The apparatus he held in his hand began to show signs of activity, the needle on it's board twitching to and fro excitedly.

"It's here." The dark-haired man stated.

"Sure seems so!" His companion agreed.

They approached the single most daunting building in the entire region, coming barely within the fringes of the light spilling out of the large entrance. Hassled by the light, the shorter person put a hand over his forehead and took a cursory glance upwards.

He sighed. "But I didn't think it would land here in THIS period of time..."

His companion made no reply.

"We'll just have to get the Energy Sphere back to finish this job isn't it?" The pale-haired one frowned slightly, focusing his attention on the logo pinned at the main entrance of the building. It was an interlinked letter constituting of 'S' and 'R'. Together, they represented nothing but bad tidings.

"That is correct," the more silent man spoke up this time, confirming their agenda for the night. "But," he then put a thoughtful hand on his chin, rubbing it gently, "this really isn't like Cloud at all... accepting a job like this..."

Cloud reared his head in his friend's direction and snarled, "Shut UP, Vincent! Do I have to remind you that you agreed to this too?"

Hiding the lower half of his face beneath his cloak, Vincent turned to look at Cloud, eyes twinkling with amusement. Cloud growled some more before directing his energy towards the materia pouch he had strapped to his hips. He dug around for something and, having found it, took it out and attached it to the armour he wore on his right hand.

"Anyway," he mumbled, adjusting the materia into the slot, "I'll head off first so you cover me from behind," he instructed briefly, when he was finally satisfied with the materia slots. He looked at Vincent, who looked back and nodded slightly. Offering his comrade a slight smile, he then channeled his power into activating the desired materia.

He did not have to wait long for the spell to levitate him off the ground.

Hovering in the air for a while, he took the time to get used to the floating sensation. Being a motion sickaphobe gave him more things to worry about in the air than on the land. Feeling confident enough after a while, though, he took an imaginary step in thin air and leapt upwards, where he would be able to have a birds eye view of the city of Midgar - and where he could properly use the Indicator to it's fullest limit to trace their target for this mission.

"Here I go!" He offered a curt goodbye to Vincent before taking off.

The solemn looking man gave a fleeting look upwards the gloomy skies, where his friend disappeared to. "Bon voyage," he barely managed to say before Cloud could no longer be seen.

After that, he found himself staring at the Midgar night sky.

"Still as depressing as ever," he commented dryly to nobody in particular, basking in the luxury of his own little angst-filled world. Still, he did not miss the sound of footsteps trudging heavily up the stairs from behind him. Engaged in their own animated conversation were a group of troopers and SOLDIERs, laughing merrily at a joke which had evaded his ears.

Without another thought he flitted out of sight, choosing to lean behind the wall just next to where he stood as he slowly masked himself with the thick of the night. The flurry of action attracted the attention of one particular homecoming warrior, as he turned his porcupine-like head in the direction Vincent had last zipped off into.

The vampire-like man endeared himself closer to the wall, his heart beating slightly faster when he heard the footsteps coming to a standstill right beside where he stood.

An awkward silence hung for a moment.

"What's wrong, Zax?" A distant voice called the SOLDIER to attention.

"Ah..." he mumbled, his eyes trained on the spot where Vincent was carefully trying to stay unnoticed. The question knocked his attention off for a split second, and Vincent grasped the chance to flee into the night.

Unseen and unheard.

"I thought I saw something..." Zax blinked, not able to feel the presence he thought he had felt, anymore. Shaking his head to clear it, he continued the trip back home, mumbling something about alcohol and the legal limits Shinra had stipulated.

It had been a long night, he decided.

And it would be a longer day still, come tomorrow.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

Midgar looked no different from the air than it did from the ground. From land the city looked like a bio-metallic nightmare. From above the city looked like a geographical experiment gone wrong. Not exactly wrong in description, but unfitting for a land once lush with greenery and abound with the lifeforce of the Planet.

Cloud only spent one moment more surveying the vast wastelands surrounding the majestic city before turning away to the matter at hand.

"It never did change, I suppose..." the boy lamented to himself, bringing the Indicator up to face level for closer examination. "Hm..." He noticed the Indicator needle jumping more and more furiously as he encircled the Shinra tower, levitating further and further into the atmosphere.

Finally he stopped just outside the library rooms, watching as the Indicator reached it's limit. He looked up briefly, seeing nothing but the library through its windows with its massive collection of books inside. The Indicator was still jumping at a ferocious speed, but it did not point to the exact destination, as it would have should the target be in clear sight.

"Strange," he pondered with fingers to his chin, "it should be around here..."

A small noise caught his attention, causing him to look up from the little machine at the scene before him.

As he tried to trace the source of the sound something snapped into place in his head.

He stared at the windows within his line of sight, and searched his memory banks for what they looked like just moments ago. *That room,* he came the a sterling conclusion as he stared at the window leftmost, *was still lighted just now!*

Moving slightly to face that particular window while he decided what his next step would be, another sound rang out.

"Ah..." Cloud blinked and looked at the Indicator, which was demanding his attention with a series of soft beeps. As he held the apparatus up, the lines travelling to and fro between the wires attached at the top of the thing began to ripple with newfound energy, stretching into a single straight line and beaming a luminous red streak of light into the room which just had its light switched off.

The blond-haired mercenary paused to gather his thoughts. *The Indicator's pointing there,* he told himself, trying to gear up for action. Narrowing his eyes slightly he let his hands fall to the sides of his body. *Better go check it out...* he finally decided, floating slowly towards the window in question.

As carefully as he could, the mercenary scaled the opened window and slid through it, peeping cautiously into the darkened room for any signs of danger. Seeing nothing immediate he hopped off from sitting on the window-sill and placed the hand with the Indicator on the sides of the pane, trying to quickly adjust to the darkness. "Pretty dark around here..." he muttered, almost in a whisper, to himself. Readying the Indicator to begin the final phase of his search, he widened his sensory fields. *If I don't find the target soon... !!*

A cold, hostile wind tingled at his neck from the left, causing his eyes to widen in automatic response. In a moment of pure reflex he brought his right hand up to defend whatever he could feel was coming in and the sound of metal scraping against metal echoed loudly throughout the library.

The next sound was that of the Indicator sliding across the smooth, metallic floor with much fanfare, coming to a forced stop in front of one of the bookshelves, sizzling to an operational standstill. Cloud's mind whirled and he forgot quickly that the assailant was still in the same room he was. In that instance the only thing on his mind was to get the Indicator back and check it to see if it was still working.

That, of course, changed when the flash of an icy, harsh looking blade pressed close to his form.

The blade was sharp, agleam with a strangely alien glow.

And it was dangerously near where Cloud's neck could be safely severed.

Cloud glanced left, briefly catching a pair of black boots with silver cu when his eyes swept past the floor.

*Oh. No.*

His eyes made the painfully slow roll upwards to fix themselves upon his attacker, whose green, feline eyes could not be mistaken for another's.

"Who are you?" Sephiroth tightened the grip on the masamune, demanding an answer.

"What are you doing here?"

 

\-------------------------------  
... end one ...  
27/2/2003


	2. Chapter 2

Standard disclaimers apply.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... timeless . ageless . changeless ...  
\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... two

 

If Cloud could swear out loud, he would have.

Really, he would.

In view of his current circumstances, however, it didn't seem entirely prudent to be doing anything at all, short of answering Sephiroth's questions. Before he could muse up an appropriate answer that wouldn't sound as ridiculous as 'Hello there! I hail from the future!', however, the gleaming blade pressed closer, forcing him to take a step back.

"Well?" Sephiroth was saying, "I am waiting."

More cold sweat rolled off Cloud's cheeks. He tried to back up further from the blade but ended up backing himself against the wall just next to the window. Briefly he contemplated trying to sneak out of that window - but it was a no-go, considering the length of reach Sephiroth had with that ridiculously long sword of his, and that the Indicator which his hirer had handed him was kind of in the other end of the room.

But if he didn't say SOMETHING soon, his head was going to say goodbye to the rest of his body.

"I meant no harm," he began cautiously, leaning heavily on the wall by now. Sephiroth blinked, but didn't intercept. Probably waiting for Cloud to continue. Right. Now, what else could he say? "I was looking for something," the words just came magically out of his mouth. How very slick, he admonished himself, to spill all the beans to the enemy on first contact.

But then again, being frank was probably all he could do for the moment.

And Sephiroth, wasn't the enemy. Yet.

"And what would that thing you were looking for be?" The General had a softer glow to his eyes now, although his blade remained poised.

Just as Cloud opened his mouth to reply, the winds whistled in his ears. To the unfamiliar it sounded like any other shrill sound of the night - a normal outcry of the wilderness. To the blond-haired mercenary, however, this was like the sound of salvation. He clamped his mouth shut and smiled knowingly at the silver-haired General, confidence growing. That of course, did not go down well with the SOLDIER, who tightened his grip on the Masamune and glowed with an aura of readiness.

"What I'm looking for," Cloud began, putting a finger against his lip while rounding the other hand to his back where the Buster Sword remained strapped and hidden, "is," a dark shadow flashed quickly past the window, obscuring light for a while, "a secret!"

The loud sound of a gunshot echoed throughout the city.

The Masamune almost went flying out of Sephiroth's grasp. But the momentarily shock he received when Vincent's close-range bullet came in contact with the sword was enough time for Cloud to grab the handle of the Buster Sword from behind him and roll into a safer corner of the room, well out of the Masamune's reach.

Brandishing the large broadsword in one hand, the mercenary held out his other to the recovered Sephiroth, now rather intent on charging the intruder, and exclaimed, "No wait! Stop!"

Of course, the provoked General paid no real heed to the protests of the hooded stranger. There was a bright flash of light and a loud 'CLANG!' when sword was brought up against sword. Cloud defected the thinner blade away rather easily, but, being thinner, the Masamune quickly moved again to attempt trapping the blond once more. He dodged, but was not fast enough to avoid losing a few strands of fabric to the sharp blade. Slightly frustrated, he swung the flat of the sword against Sephiroth's shin, knowing it would not hit the man but hoping to buy some time to at least put some distance between them. Where was Vincent anyway?!

In an attempt to swerve away from Cloud's sword, Sephiroth leapt backwards. The blade missed him by a large margin and he smirked slightly, wondering what the stranger had up his sleeve. That soon changed, when he felt something metallic press against his back, along with a chilling cold presence.

"Hold it right there," the voice was deep, dark, and dangerous. Sephiroth knew instantly he would be stupid to risk his life by doing anything contrary to what he was being instructed to. Still he glanced at the corner of his eyes, hoping to catch a glimpse of the persona behind him. All he knew was that the person's shadow was awfully hostile.

In front of him, Cloud rose to full height from his previously bent position. He breathed a sigh of relief and buckled the Buster Sword back to where it was originally behind him. Holding both hands up he said, "Sorry about that. We had to get you to stop trying to kill us somehow."

Silence.

"Now that we've stopped trying to kill each other..." Cloud began groping at the walls where the entrance appeared to be, "... don't mind me while I locate the light switch..."

More silence.

"Ah, I think you should lower that gun of yours, too," he caught hold onto something and flipped it, flooding the room with light, evidently referring to the entity now standing behind the General.

"I agree," Sephiroth nodded, crossing his arms over his chest.

"That's only if you promise you won't try to kill us again," Cloud, having settled the issue of lighting, pointed an accusing finger at the dark-clad man, who visibly bristled.

What was this entire thing about him trying to kill them? He was merely trying to curb the intruders to the Building, like there was anything wrong with that! Outside however he said, "Fine," and turned his head away from Cloud standoffishly. Much to his surprise the metallic object previously held up against his back was no longer there in a split second. The other stranger vanished and reappeared beside the first one - the one who had found the switch - almost like he had teleported.

Sephiroth tried to contain his surprise. Were these intruders stupid, or what? They had a slight edge over him just now, but lost it foolishly. They should have known better than to trust a stranger - a seeming enemy - so easily.

Yet as he geared himself up for action, something from within him stopped him short.

As foolhardy as these strangers seemed, they were also very confident of the fact that, once General Sephiroth promised something - he would deliver.

So he said he wouldn't attack them. And he wouldn't.

He looked at the dark-haired stranger, who had the peculiar colour of crimson red for eyes, carefully watching out for anything disadvantageous. His gun was cocked and ready by his side. Their eyes met briefly, and Sephiroth could see an inferno from within the amber irises, burning with strong, intense feelings of despair, pining and confusion. Confusion? Sephiroth thought incredulously to himself. It hardly appeared like the right word to describe the confident prick pointing his gun at him just now.

The shorter man was harder to read. Mainly because of his hood, and the veil beneath it obscuring his eyes. He had been standing rooted to the ground since finding the light switch and, although his head was turned to face another direction, Sephiroth knew that the hooded stranger had been staring at him all the time.

*Who ARE these people,* Sephiroth's eyes narrowed. He really wanted to know. Then something from within him snapped when he saw a familiar sight. "Those Mako eyes..." he looked at Vincent, "... you're a SOLDIER?"

Vincent kept characteristically quiet, neither denying nor agreeing to the charge.

"We're not SOLDIERs," Cloud answered for him instead, turning away and walking slowly towards the battered Indicator in the corner of the room. He picked it up wordlessly and strode back to where Vincent stood. Slapping Vincent on the shoulder, he introduced, "This is Vi... ah," stopping himself short only when he saw the vampire-like man glare at him from his vantage point of view, "... Colin, my trusted travelling companion," he almost had to gag himself from laughing for having dared to say the penname Vincent had chosen to undertake as they progressed through the era. Vincent politely nudged him in the shins for that, and he regained his composure.

Turning to face Sephiroth fully, a twinge of nostalgia and regret passed over him. But it was quickly dismissed. "You can call me," he held his right thumb to himself in a movement he hoped would calm his raging feelings down, "Ipsen Avon."

"Lord, Ipsen Avon," Vincent corrected.

From where he stood, Sephiroth could feel Cloud glare at the red-eyed man. Possibly for revealing his title. "'Lord'... ?" The address had roused in the SOLDIER several questions he would like to hear answers to.

Cloud had the grace to put an embarassed hand to his head. "Anyway, we have a mission to recover an item which had somehow made it's way into the Shinra Building..." he glanced momentarily at the broken Indicator in his hands, still smoking away, "... and since you destroyed our only lead to pinpointing the item's location... you wouldn't happen to know where we could find an Energy Sphere, would you?"

The night breeze could be heard entering the otherwise silent room.

"I would, wouldn't I," Sephiroth was looking as stern as usual, despite the obviously sarcastic edge to his tone. He blinked and sheathed the Masamune noiselessly. "I would know, however, that there are probably going to be legions of security guards knocking really hard on that door just about, now."

As if on cue, heavy banging ensued in the general direction of the door.

"General Sephiroth!" A flustered voice accompanied the persistent knocking. "Are you in there?"

Vincent narrowed his eyes in suspicion and disbelief at the slightly smirking General. It was Cloud who retorted, "I thought you said you wouldn't try to kill us!"

"Technically, you can't be killed by security guards who knock loudly on doors," Sephiroth pointed out, "but anyway, I sounded the alarm before I promised you anything - so I remain blameless due to ignorance," he shrugged disinterestedly.

For a while the shorter man gaped, then opened his mouth to say something - before shutting it. Again he tried to say something but was stopped by some inner force of reason. By the third time he did this the knocking had developed into slamming and Cloud was sure the guards would be kicking the door down in no time. Angrily he whisked past the aloof General, muttering under his breath, heading for the window. Vincent had already melded into one with the shadows of the room and was nowhere to be seen, but Cloud knew better than to worry for him. Quickly he found the window and clung on to the sill, facing the man in black. "Excuse me while I make my great escapade, then, General Sephiroth," he surprised himself by actually saying that out loud.

He hadn't meant to.

A queer glance in his direction by the aforementioned General himself, was all the response he got. It looked like it was time to high-tail.

Jumping slightly backwards and silently throwing a levitation spell at himself, he was surprised to find his grip on the Indicator loosening - mainly due to the fact that the blunt side of the Masamune had just hit his hand with great force. He fell backwards in shock, but the spell kept him hovering in mid-air just outside the Shinra Building.

And as for the Indicator, it glided along smoothly down the long blade; right into Sephiroth's outstretched palms.

"Hey!" Cloud immediately shouted, "You give that back!"

Sephiroth gave no immediate answer, choosing to take his time to scrutinize the apparatus carefully, until a small smile tugged at the corners of his lips. "If," he turned to look at the angry mercenary, "you weren't holding something of such technological advancement, I would have to have you imprisoned immediately for being a Wutai spy, 'Lord' Avon."

Taken aback, Cloud lowered his head while his jaw remained slack. In his anger and frustration, he had almost forgotten that the man on the other side of the window was none other than Sephiroth himself.

A person once admired and looked up upon by the world -

and himself.

The same Sephiroth was also sharp, observant, too-smart-for-his-own-good, and inflicts more wounds with his presence than he could ever have with his sword.

Cloud put a hand to his forehead and breathed. He knew he was just not ready to talk with the man known as a hero on equal standing in many ways than one, much less argue with him about the merits and demerits of returning the Indicator to it's rightful owner. Nothing - not even thousands of years would have prepared him to face this. From beyond the window he could hear the door finally being broken down, and that was like cold water over his head, sobering him up. "Well, you'd better keep that thing in one piece until I come back for it!" He threatened.

With those last words, Cloud was gone as quickly as the breeze settled over.

"General Sephiroth, sir!" The head of the guards stumbled in, saluting clumsily and quickly scanning the room. "Is everything all right?"

Glancing out of the window for only slightly longer, the man turned gracefully to stare at the concerned guards. He noticed that they jumped when he snapped around to look at them, and although he was amused, a small portion of his inner being sighed at the action. *I bet they don't even jump as much when they see the Midgar Zolom...* But he didn't blamed them. He was, after all, the hero who helped Shinra rise to it's full glory by defeating the obstinate warrior nation of Wutai - formidable and impenetrable until his appearance on the scene. The tales about what he had done had been spun so grossly out of proportion that it came across as comical to the people who actually knew what happened.

But this was the time when people needed a leader to look up to. An icon of strength and might. And it just so happened that he was at the right place at the right time.

"Everything is all right," Sephiroth waved for them to step back, which they did, all too eagerly. He walked through them towards the broken door and stared at it for a while. "This is not going to come out of my salary, is it?" He brooded. Turning a feline eye on the flustered guards, he succeeded in getting them to retreat a couple more steps.

"No sir, how could that possibly be?" The leader was quick to agree. "It was an accident, and we all know it. Don't we, boys?"

A resounding 'aye!' could be heard in the little library.

*Being scary sure has it's perks...* Sephiroth rolled his eyes and swept out of the room without another word more, grasping the Indicator in his hands slightly tighter than he had really wanted to.

 

\-------------------------------  
... end two ...  
11/3/2003


	3. Chapter 3

Standard disclaimers apply.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... timeless . ageless . changeless ...  
\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... three

 

"Hey, Sephiroth!" It was a SOLDIER, who had just stepped out of the lift Sephiroth was about to go into. "You're needed at 66 for an important briefing by the Weapons department." The dark-haired porpucine-head threw in a wide, knowing grin as he delivered the message - as if trying to emphasize the various nuances that could be derived from the command. Sephiroth rolled his eyes at the cheery SOLDIER and stepped into the elevator wordlessly, jabbing at the '66' button with extra force. Before the doors could slide close the dark-haired messenger sidled through the narrow crack easily and grinned further at the taller man.

Sephiroth raised a pale eyebrow at the person, "Yes?" he tried to keep his tone neutral.

"Oh, nothing, General - I need to go see Professor Hojo to pass something to him as well, so if you're not feeling too big at the moment, I'd like to share the elevator with you." He ended his delivery with a wide grin and watched the semi-exasperated Sephiroth turn his head away to jab on the '68' button as well before the doors finally slid quietly shut. As the elevator moved upwards, the SOLDIER noticed the apparatus his General held in his hands. "What's that?" He queried curiously.

A slight metallic 'ching' could be heard as Sephiroth instinctively grasped the device a little tighter. "Something I found by the window," he mumbled as the lift display showed that he had arrived at level 66. He took a minor step forward, pausing just outside the elevator. "Hey Zack," he turned around and tossed the broken machine towards the unsuspecting man, who blundered slightly but caught it nevertheless, "see if Hojo can do anything about that."

Zack looked dumbly at the thing he just caught, then nodded slowly. "Sure thing, Sephiroth. Uumm, see you later then!"

The doors shut his last sentence out.

"What in the world is this?" Zack poked gingerly at the fizzled display, resulting in a slight cackle as the rampant electronic waves rushed towards his gloved finger. He retracted it quickly, just as the lift door opened to his desired storey. Hastily, he made his way out, still wondering about the little machine when his foot hit onto a large wayward valve pipe and threw him off balance. "WOAH!" Zack grabbed onto the nearest available thing - an arc-like container, and clung tightly to it until his foot found the ground again. Breathing a sigh of relief, he was about to step away when the luminosity of the container's contents drew his eyes to take a second look.

A mesmerizing blue glow caught his breath. Although it appeared to be empty, the glow kept Zack's eyes glued to it, almost as if should he look any longer, an entity would spring out and greet him with an ethereal whisper. For a few moments the SOLDIER wasn't sure if it was just him, or that the cells in his body had begun to vibrate strangely to an alien heartbeat.

Professor Hojo's loud cough to his side finally broke the spell and forced Zack to tear his glance away from the blue. He gulped inwardly as he looked at the messy scientist, hands behind his back in his usual no-nonsense manner. Zack offered a sheepish grin.

"Hello there, Professor!" He chirped, knowing full well how chirpiness grated on Hojo's nerves. The scientist winced visibly and adjusted his glasses.

"Why if it isn't Mr. Zack from SOLDIER himself," Hojo wasted no time in drawling. Making vague hand motions at the container Zack had just been looking at, he continued with a strange glint in his eye, "I see you have been staring at my prized possession..."

"Yes indeed, Professor," Zack rolled his eyes and dug around his pockets, not wishing to stay any longer than he should, "I was asked to pass this to you," he fished out a crumpled piece of paper with traces of handwriting and the President's official seal. "Please see to it that the President gets a reply by this evening!"

"Ah yes, yes," Hojo began mumbling to himself in subdued tones, glancing once at the written message and then crushing it so it would fit in the large pockets of his labcoat - already filled with random items from his work table, doubtless. "Is there anything else I can help you with?" The Professor asked none-too-amiably amidst the cries of help from his assistants in the background.

"Noth- Ah, wait," Zack suddenly remembered the weird apparatus Sephiroth had asked him to hand to Hojo. His mind swirled as he tried to determine how he could get Hojo to help without mentioning Sephiroth's name. "Do you..." he pretended to rub his chin thoughtfully, "... like, fix stuff?"

Hojo stared at him for a good moment.

"As you can see, my dear SOLDIER," the professor began moving towards the interior of the laboratory, signalling something to a few of his assistants trying to fix a valve, "I am *quite* very busy at the moment. If your computer is suffering from one retarded symptom or another, I suggest you call the technicians for help instead. I have much better things to-"

"Hey, hold up a bit there!" Zack held both hands up. "You're going way off the rocker, Professor!" He frowned, brandishing the broken apparatus he had been entrusted with. "I asked a simple question, that's all, you know? Don't have to go biting my head off. I know you're busy, but don't worry, I'm not asking for something much. A genius like yourself should be able to fix this in no time, I bet." He shoved the hand-held machine nearer to Hojo, who instinctively edged backwards. "You know, like what you mad scientists always say... 'for the sake of science and humanity!!', when you do stuff don't you? So, how about-"

The SOLDIER was cut abruptly short when the Professor literally wrenched the machine free from his grasp, holding it with a look of brazen incredulity. After a while of muttering, he looked up at the confused Zack and demanded, "Where did you get this?"

A little thrown off balance, Zack opened his mouth as if to say something, although no words escaped. *Must be really something for the Professor to be suddenly so interested...* He took his chance, however, and said, "If I tell you, will you fix it for me?"

Hojo frowned and creased his forehead more than it already was. "What do you mean, SOLDIER?" The scientist finally mumbled. "I am afraid it is currently more a question of whether I can fix it or not, though."

Zack's eyes almost dropped out of his sockets. "Come again?"

"You heard what I said," Hojo turned around and walked towards his working desk, placing the apparatus on one corner beside a cylinder of bubbling yellow froth. He started to scribble quickly onto a tab, finishing what he had to write in a few seconds. Quickly he transferred the sticker to the handle of the little equipment and put it in a vacuum wrapper.

*He MUST be really interested.* Zack decided, watching Hojo fuss over the apparatus with more care than a mother would for her newborn. *Of course, he wouldn't tell me why exactly he's so excited for...* Shrugging, Zack decided that his mission here was complete nevertheless. However, not trusting to let the Professor have the device without any means he could use to get it back, Zack asked, "How long before I can drop by to check it out?"

The Professor stopped in his work and stared at Zack with suspicion. "Don't tell me you don't intend to return that to me or something like that, Professor," Zack smirked in his best, 'I-know-what-you-are-thinking' smile.

Resignedly, Hojo pulled a drawer out and from within it grabbed a stamp. He wrote something quickly on one of the blank papers scattered on his desk and stamped it with equal speed. He then waved it under Zack's questioning eyes.

"Take it, go on," the glint in the Professor's eye had deepened considerably and now he looked like someone who had been worked up into a fervour. Zack took the paper and stared at it, almost fainting with exasperation. How could he have forgotten? Professor Hojo never wrote anything that was anywhere near legible.

"Now look here," Zack jabbed at the paper unhappily, "could you at least get someone else to write something I can actually read or type the damned message out?"

Hojo glanced up from his brief inspection of the device and raised an eyebrow. "Should it matter? The Laboratory's seal is on it. You may return for your apparatus anytime."

Zack stood rooted to his place for a few good moments.

"Truly now, Professor," he finally said, with a tinge of amusement in his voice, "do you honestly expect me to believe you just on your word alone?"

"What else do you require, Mr. Zack?" Hojo peered at him from the corner of his eyes.

Zack shrugged. "I don't know. You go on playing your tricks, Professor. All I know is, when I want the thing back, your piece of paper here had better work, or," he winked knowingly, "you can expect me to use MY way to get MY things back. Goodbye!"

The SOLDIER trotted merrily along the edges of the laboratory until the lift, where he then disappeared behind the doors, still beaming brightly.

Hojo's eyes narrowed, but he said nothing more. Leaving the apparatus alone for now, he walked towards the container near the elevator and stared at the pulsating blue glow.

Soon, a crooked grin crept up his features.

"May you be in time to get whatever is yours back, then, Mr. Zack..."

Turning to face his assistants, he walked slowly towards the observatory bridge, where he could instruct the others on a few things before he retired to his personal experiments.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

He found Sephiroth later that evening, quite deep in the night, at the library with just a single light over the table he was sitting at. The General was engrossed with a book about mechanics, along with a few other books piled into a stack on the table beside him. If he noticed Zack's entrance, he did nothing to acknowlege it, merely turning a page to the book sitting on his lap.

"Heyo!" Zack pulled a chair across the room and sat himself in front of the General. "So, what was the meeting all about?" The dark-haired SOLDIER quipped, trying to break the silence.

Sephiroth turned another page.

Sighing, Zack reached over to grab the book away from the General's grasp. Sephiroth merely arched his eyebrows, and remained in the same posture, while looking questioningly at the intruder.

"I asked a damned question, Sephiroth," he grumbled, "pay more attention to what's happening around you sometimes, why don't you?" The rancous SOLDIER started to sway his hand in a mocking motion. "No wait, it should be, pay more REGARD to what's happening around you, oh high-and-mighty. It helps in inter-personal relationships, haven't you read?"

"Stop." Sephiroth commanded evenly, with a hand held up. His eyes were closed, however, so it was unclear what he truly thought about that remark. "As per your previous question - nothing much happened at the meeting. It seems that the Weapons Department has finished beta-development on a new, inland cannon, which is situated further west of this continent."

"Junon," the other SOLDIER was fast to catch on, "that mega-whooper barrel of gunpowder the newscasters keep boasting about."

The silver-haired General nodded, fingering the cover of another book on the table carelessly.

"And?" Zack probed. "What do they need you for?"

At that, Sephiroth sighed. "He said I didn't have to follow the entourage if I didn't want to. But I was to be there when they officially adorned the cannon - one week from now."

"Ooh," the light dawned on Zack, "oh my. Imagine that. The Great Sephiroth cutting up frilly ribbons to officially adorn a mega-cannon that most probably wouldn't be used at all in this time of peace."

"That's not funny, Zack," Sephiroth already had his face buried in one palm, a conspicuous sweatdrop clinging tenanciously to his hair. When he removed his palm, however, there was a sly edge to his tone as he said, "and, just to let you know, I've volunteered YOU for flanking. So that means, you have to follow me to Junon to cut up frilly ribbons." The sentence ended almost like a cliffhangar. It was as if Sephiroth was mocking Zack, 'chew on that!'.

"You did WHAT?!" The lower-ranked SOLDIER leapt to his feet, causing the poor chair to tumble noisily backwards. "Man, Sephiroth! You ever heard of asking people for their schedules?" Zack continued to moan, putting a hand on his forehead. "Oh man! There goes my date with the flower of the slums..."

Sephiroth did his best to appear apologetic. Then he reached out and grabbed another book on the table, flipping it obliviously. "Deal with it," he murmured quietly, eventually throwing the book down, "anyway, did the good Professor refuse your call for help?"

It took Zack a while to realize that Sephiroth was talking about the apparatus he had entrusted him with. "Oooh," the darker-haired SOLDIER pulled the fallen chair back and reclaimed his seat, "he took it without much persuasion, surprisingly."

The look Sephiroth gave Zack was one which said, 'EXPLAIN' in loud, bold red.

"Mrm," Zack shrugged, "I only had to show him the thing, and his eyes lit up like he's found a gold mine. Hmm... no wait, wrong use of metaphor. His eyes lit up like he's found a mako pool, how's that!" The cheery SOLDIER grinned at his own joke. Sephiroth, however, had his head lowered in thoughtful ponder. "You're not REALLY so worried about this, are you?" Zack asked. "After all, you thought Hojo could be trusted enough to handle that, well, whatever that thing is, right?"

"Yes, I did," Sephiroth nodded, "but only after a quite a bit of... persuasion, which was why I asked you to help in the first place," he ignored Zack's aghast look of 'I-have-just-been-used!', and rose to full height, striding purposefully to the door.

"Sephiroth?" His aide pipped.

"I'll go check out the laboratory."

"At this hour when owls don't even hoot for food?!"

*THUNK*

Sephiroth narrowly avoided hitting the doorway in his exit when he heard Zack's mismatched idiom. "Owls...?" Three blue lines formed below his eyes. "Anyway," he continued walking, "do you really think the good Professor would have retired from his experiments at this time?"

Zack thought about it.

"Nope... I don't think so."

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

The laboratory was the same as the last time Zack had visited. It was blue, bubbling with weird noises and concoctations, and had controlled lighting, which made the laboratory seem the same any hour of the day. Sephiroth took one step onto the storey and crinkled his nose in slight disgust. The masamune (which he adamantly insisted on bringing) reflected the strange blue light around the area eeriely, and even Zack was beginning to feel a little uneasy.

It wasn't long before an assistant running around noticed the presence of Sephiroth. He almost dropped the potions he had on his tray and gasped in astonishment. "Ge... General Sephiroth! What a privilege it is to have you grace our laboratory! I... I'll..." The boy looked around for somewhere to put his tray, so he could perhaps serve some drinks of appreciation, but was stopped short by Sephiroth's outstretched hand.

"I'm looking for Professor Hojo," he stated, sharp eyes piercing through the assistant, "where is he?"

"Aah... the Professor..." the boy smiled nervously, "... has already left for Junon on the entourage, as per the President's wishes... so, he is no longer..."

"Whaaat??!" It was Zack this time. "But I was just talking to him a few hours ago!"

"Indeed, sir, you were," the assistant nodded, "but the President's note states that they must leave by tonight. And so..."

"What about the apparatus?" Sephiroth asked.

"Apparatus... ?"

Zack brandished the piece of paper he got from Hojo that evening. "Yeah, that one, you know? The one I sent in for repairs?"

The assistant took one look at the paper, blinked, and quickly went towards Hojo's usual workdesk to search out something. A few minutes and some rummaging of drawers later, the boy returned with a sheepish smile. "Ahahahah..." he had hand on the back of his head, "... whatever it is you have handed to the Professor, I'm afraid... he has taken it along with him..."

Zack fumed. "Well as long as he doesn't get it lost or anything... hey, Sephiroth, where're you going?" He turned around to see that the General had began to take big strides towards the elevator. "Sorry 'bout that, boy," Zack winked at the confused lab assistant, "thanks for the information!," and took off after the silver-haired SOLDIER.

He caught up with him just before the lift door shut on him.

"Wheew!" The SOLDIER sighed. "Hey, come on, Sephiroth, just because I'm a SOLDIER doesn't mean I'll survive being clamped shut by a lift." That said and done, he observed his friend carefully, taken slightly aback by Sephiroth's sudden hush. "Something up about that apparatus that you can't have Hojo get away from your sights?" Zack admitted to himself that he could be really sharp if he needed to be, and it was definitely time to be sharp now.

"Nah," a strange, soft and disembodied voice drifted into the ears of the SOLDIERs in the elevator, mixing almost melodiously together with the whooshing sound of the lift moving downwards, "he's just worried about what he's going to tell me now that my Indicator device is gone."

Zack's first reaction was to freeze. Then slowly, he turned his head upwards to see who was it who had spoken.

He took the mercenary perched against the elevator ceiling, cloak, hood, veil and all, in.

Although he was not able to see the stranger's eyes, Zack was drawn.

It was like they had known each other from since forever.

 

\-------------------------------  
... end three ...  
17/5/2003


	4. Chapter 4

Standard disclaimers apply.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... timeless . ageless . changeless ...  
\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... four

 

"Hello there!" Cloud held a hand up in greeting. A dull pain throbbed in his heart and cold sweat formed, as he looked at the dark and shaggy-haired SOLDIER in the eye again, since that time long, long ago. He kept his lips pursed and was glad that his veil concealed his eyes from the duo in the elevator. Noticing that they were staring at him, it finally dawned upon him that he was perched upside down on the elevator ceiling. He almost laughed.

"Are you going to stay up there all day?" Sephiroth asked, even as Cloud dispeled his anti-gravity spell and flipped gracefully onto the ground. Beside him, the darker-haired SOLDIER appeared shocked that the General seemed to know the stranger.

"I just like having a bird's eye view," Cloud joked blandly. His disposition turned serious when he placed a single hand on his waist in a pose of dissatisfaction, saying, "You lost the Indicator," in a plain, no-nonsense tone, "I thought you could have done better than that. And to lose it to Hojo, of all people!"

Sephiroth merely looked away with a small 'hrmph!' muttered under his breath. Sensing his unwillingness to talk, Zack held both hands up amiably and grinned at the hooded stranger. "Don't blame poor Sephiroth. I was the one who didn't do my job and got the thing lost."

For his part, Cloud merely fumed silently, making waving motions with his hands, "Right, yes, whatever," the lift door opened and Sephiroth strode out without as much as throwing a glance back at Cloud, "I'm not blaming anybody - I just need to know how to get it back." Zack exited the lift as well, following Sephiroth, still in a daze as he wondered what exactly was going on.

Before he knew it, the lift doors slid shut. And the hooded stranger was nowhere to be seen.

"Woah," Zack gaped, staring at the closed doors of the elevator, blinking, "I did not just dream about meeting this short guy who could stand on the opposite side of the floor, did I?"

Sephiroth said nothing, sliding his card across the lock pad to gain access into the library. He pushed the door aside and entered the room, followed shortly by the darker-haired SOLDIER.

"..." Zack attempted a few times to start a conversation, but his words caught at his throat and could not be heard. In the meantime, Sephiroth had taken to nonchalantly flipping through a few unshelved books to pass his time. Although he was calm, it didn't look as if he was concentrating on the text in the books at all. If anything, he appeared to be waiting for something to happen.

Finding it strange, Zack was about to use that as a topic for discussion when a soft 'thud' from the direction of the single opened window in the room attracted his attention.

The dark form there loomed for a while, then hopped down from the window frame to the floor. The form sighed, and Zack immediately recognized him as the stranger from before. "Sorry about that," the form apologized, "but you have circuit cameras along your corridors," he said, sounding clever. He coughed after the silence stretched for a bit longer than he had expected. "And anyway, as I was saying..."

"Hold up!" Zack's puzzled voice cut his sentence short. "Both of you cut this charade out, no no! I'm not going to play into this like some damned stringed puppet by listening to your warped conversations and pretend like I so know everything." He pointed at Sephiroth with an upturned lip, "Either you!" he shifted targets and pointed at Cloud, "or you, will tell me what this whole thing about, or none of you are talking to each other about it again when I'm still around!"

Cloud blinked through his veil.

But to everybody's surprise, it was Sephiroth who spoke next. "That device I passed to you earlier on belonged to Mr. Ipsen over here," he quietly put the books he had been flipping through on the table and crossed his arms over his chest, staring into space with a semi-bored expression on his face, "and apparently we've lost it to Hojo. Thus, Mr. Ipsen is hoping to find a way to recover his apparatus. Hm." Sephiroth quirked his lips a little, seemingly pondering something. "Did I make sense?"

"Sort of..." Zack blinked. He turned to offer Cloud a curt glance. Then, without warning whatsoever, he broke into a wide grin and pointed at himself with his thumb. "Well, sorry I got your little device thingie lost, my friend. I should have known the good professor wouldn't have agreed to accepting something so easily if he hadn't his own agenda lying beneath it."

Cloud - who had been silent for a while as Zack bantered on and on, stiffened visibly when Zack began his long monologue, but recovered almost instantly after. "I'm not really here to ask anything from you both. But please, tell me where Professor Hojo is going, and I'll take it from here."

If Zack hadn't known better, he would have thought he heard a slight jitter in the voice of the otherwise composed form of 'Ipsen'. The dark-haired SOLDIER stared at the ceiling and took to scratching his cheek as he pondered the question. "I think," he spoke after a short while, "that his assistant told us he was on his way to Junon."

"Junon?" Cloud repeated, almost as if those words were alien to him. "That's..." he shifted slightly as the memories of long ago flooded his remembrance, "... That's the port further west with the large cannon mounted on it... ?"

Zack grinned, "Yep! The one and only!"

He did not notice Sephiroth staring at Cloud with slight surprise visible in his eyes.

"Hm..." Cloud clasped his chin in an effort to think better. "... it'll take a while to get from here to Junon..." He began to count off his fingers, mumbling under his breath. "... hmm... don't you think?"

"Huh?" Zack started slightly at that sudden question.

Then from the far left corner of the library, a deep, resonating voice sounded out a reply, "We could keep casting an 'Exit' spell until we get teleported there."

As both Cloud and Sephiroth tried hard not to twitch at Vincent's reply, Zack stared between them and the darkness, trying to come to a logical conclusion.

"The possibilities of that succeeding would take even longer than if you should just do the normal thing and walk from here to Junon," Sephiroth was saying when he finally regained his composure, and Cloud merely put a hand on his head in disbelief, "and you would most probably run out of magic after the first few hundred tries, after which you would have to rest for the entire day anyway, and try again the next day only to fail similarly, resulting in a vicious cycle of futile teleportations..."

The great Sephiroth looked up from his ramblings to see all who were visible in the room gaping at him. Zack, because he had never heard the silver-haired General say so many things in one breath; and Cloud, because he grew increasingly uncomfortable at his former nemesis' subtly obvious interest in the affair.

"What?" Sephiroth raised a pale eyebrow at the strange glances he was receiving.

"..." Trying to be as unassuming as possible, Cloud queried quietly, "... and, you're saying that..."

"I'm saying," the General breezed past the blond mercenary like he was inconsequential, "that perhaps it's about time I made my way to Junon for the cannon's opening ceremony," he reached out and pushed Zack along the way as he neared the exit, ignoring his little yelps of protests, "maybe I would get one of the larger cars Shinra has for transportation. I'm sure I'll reach there in no time at all."

Then, as if he was trying to bait something, he flashed a deceptively mischievious smile at Cloud. "See you," there was a chuckle hidden beneath those words. The library door slid silently shut.

Cloud stood rooted for a good minute. Until Vincent materalized into the light and wandered up to the blond, wondering if he should throw a Soft to de-fossilize him. Before he came within three feet of the younger man, however, Cloud began to speak.

"I'm only having a really serious case of goosebumps right now, Vincent, so don't even think about it."

"Oh," Vincent shrugged and threw the Soft he had been holding back into their volumeless inventory, "if you say so."

A pause.

"... Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Vincent?"

"Why yes, Cloud. We're going to save the world again, aren't we?"

"......"

"......"

"You suck at jokes, you know that?"

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

Zack stumbled out into the corridor just as the library door slid to a close. It took him a while to regain his footing, by which time Sephiroth was already halfway across the pathway towards the lift. "Hey Sephiroth!" He said in a loud voice, trying to catch the General's attention. He managed to grab him by a shoulder, before asking, "You're seriously going to leave for Junon now?"

Sephiroth said nothing, merely gesturing for Zack to follow him into the elevator for what must have been the umpteenth time that evening. The moment they stepped in, and the moment the doors isolated them from being heard by anyone else, the General turned to look sternly at Zack.

"Zack," He said solemnly, "the cannon at Junon - do you remember what that guy said about the cannon just now?"

The dark-haired SOLDIER blinked, but his thought processes began to churn at incredible rates. "He mentioned that it was a port... further west with... a cannon mounted on it... ?"

Nodding, Sephiroth continued, "And you didn't think there was anything wrong with that statement?"

"No." Zack frowned. "Junon IS further west here, and it DOES have that cannon on it, doesn't it?"

"That's the problem," Sephiroth closed his eyes, "the cannon ISN'T mounted."

There proceeded to ensue silence, which was only broken by the sharp intake of breath from Zack as he disgested the information.

"Maybe he heard some wrong news... ?"

"Surely not to that extent," the General opened his eyes and stared into space, "we don't even know if the cannon is going to be mounted or not, at this point of time. The technical engineers are considering to either leave it where it is, or buried underground. Or mounted, yes, but that will only be revealed and done on the opening ceremony itself."

The lift stopped at the basement with a small 'ching!' sound denoting it's arrival. Sephiroth swept out of the lift with smooth ease, leaving Zack still pondering about what all of this could possibly imply. He followed the silver-haired General out dumbly, and as Sephiroth spoke to the attendant about a large vehicle suitable for transportation to Junon, Zack silently mused to himself.

"So how did dear little Ipsen know about the mounted cannon?..."

"For immediate use, sir?" The porcupine head then heard the attendant ask Sephiroth. His head swirled for a while before snapping into reality.

"Yes, immediate use," Sephiroth repeated. He collected the keys and was about to sign his name on the pad when Zack burst into the scene.

"HEY!" The SOLDIER was saying. "We're not going to set off right now, are we?"

For his part, Sephiroth merely offered Zack a 'what-do-you-mean?-of-course-we-are' look.

"But it's so late at night now!" Zack protested. Which, of course, was promptly ignored. "Don't we need supplies?" He tried again, knowing it was futile, since the Shinra cars were always packed with supplies, and they could get some on the way anyway. "I need to get my sword..." The SOLDIER gave up, and mumbled quietly to himself, turning tail and waving half-heartedly at the triumphant General.

"Sure," Sephiroth almost smirked, knowing he had won - yet again, "see you at the lobby road."

Zack cursed and swore all the way back to the barracks, wondering what he had ever done to deserve such an irritatingly stubborn superior.

 

\-------------------------------  
... end four ...  
3/7/2003


	5. Chapter 5

Standard disclaimers apply.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... timeless . ageless . changeless ...  
\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... five

 

When Sephiroth returned to the parked truck from registering his absence with the clerk at the lobby of the Shinra Building, Cloud was already perched atop the sheltered roof of the truck in a squat, the gentle night breeze whipping his long cloak around his lithe form. Upon hearing the General's approach he made a movement to turn to stare at the man, whereas Sephiroth merely stood a good few feet away from the vehicle, trying not to smirk too much.

The staring competition continued for a good while more, before Cloud looked away and grumbled, "You planned this."

"Planned what?" Sephiroth smiled innocently.

In response Cloud turned again to stare - probably incredulously - at the SOLDIER. "You planned it such that it would be impossible for us not to follow you on your little entourage to Junon, didn't you?" There was an irritated quality to his tone, but otherwise his voice remained calm and soft.

"Now why would I want to do that for," Sephiroth stepped closer to the vehicle door, unlocking it and twisting the handle to swing the door open.

"Perhaps I should be asking you that," the blond mercenary's frown could be heard.

Sephiroth chuckled. In an instance after that, any playfulness in his features and voice dissolved into grave solemnity. "I lost something you put in my trust." He spoke, staring out at nothing in particular with a faraway look in his eye. "The least I could do on a personal level is to help. Of course, it makes things more convenient that I have an official mission along the same agenda." Glancing upwards, he continued, "And knowing you, Ipsen my friend, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that you would shun ANY of kind of help I would offer. Come on, really, I don't have rabies and I certainly don't bite now, do I?" The General chuckled, making Cloud squirm uncomfortably.

"So you had to resort to planning a way out that's just too good for me to resist?" Cloud pondered aloud.

"Face it," the SOLDIER jumped into the co-driver's seat, "whether you like it or not, I'm helping you - of course I'm also trying to fulfill my own mission. So come along if you feel like it. Nobody's forcing you."

A long silence proceeded to dwell thoughtfully in the air, until heavy stamping marred the tranquility.

"Hello there, Zack," Sephiroth greeted quietly from within the vehicle. The darker-haired SOLDIER paused in his step as he noticed the perched figure on the truck.

"If it isn't Ipsen!" He exclaimed rather excitedly, together with a wide grin. "Joining us for a our little adventure?"

"Oh yes," Cloud snorted derisively, "what would you poor little SOLDIERs do without a powerful mercenary like myself protecting you from wild animals and rabid Sephiroth fangirls on the trip to Junon?"

"Hah hah," Zack first flung his sword into the space behind the seats. He then hopped into the truck himself and closed the vehicle door, the wide grin still plastered on his face. Noticing that he was in the driver's seat, he peered curiously at his superior, who shrugged and closed his eyes. "So this means that /I/ drive, Sephiroth, sir?"

The silver-haired General made no attempt to reply.

Grumbling, Zack stood slightly and gave the ceiling a series of bangs. "Yo Ipsen! You comfortable up there?"

"Yes."

"You're not gonna fall off or anything?"

"No, Zack."

"Okay, just making sure." A strange thought began to boil on the fringe of the spikey-haired SOLDIER's mind. There was something about what the mysterious man had just said which didn't seem to fit the picture. Shrugging it off, he started the engine of the vehicle, and was about to move off when he remembered something. "Hey, what about your friend?"

"I'm here." A disembodied voice echoed out from the dark recesses of the cargo portion of the truck, which was separated from the driver's seat by some thin, checkered bars. Zack could literally feel his hair stand on ends (... not that they weren't already. XD XD XD). Even Sephiroth opened an eye and turned to glance into the darkness. Unfortunately, they weren't going to get a further response than what Vincent had just said. Both Sephiroth and Zack exchanged glances between themselves, the latter finally shrugging, and stepping on the acceleration.

The roar of the engine, and the loud sound the truck made was the only thing seemingly alive in the stretches of lonely and deserted Midgarian streets.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

By daybreak the little vehicle had reached their first outpost - the quaint little town of Kalm, slightly east of Midgar. Sephiroth remained in the truck with his eyes shut in seeming slumber, while Zack went to the nearest Shinra hut to report their progress back to headquarters. When he disembarked he found that Cloud was no longer perched atop the vehicle, which was just as well, for it would be more than suspicious for a Shinra envoy truck to pull into a little town with a weird man in flapping cloak seated on top of it.

"Always an honour to serve you, sir!" The Shinra guard posted at the little hut saluted Zack with every bearing of someone who was on the alert. "Are supplies in want, sir?"

"No," Zack fumbled with the pen to fill out the form to clear their vehicle. He paused slightly over the part where they asked for 'Number of People', giving a mental shrug eventually and writing down '2'. The guard in the post scribbled something down on his notepad quickly.

"Any assistance or information needed, perhaps?" The guard asked again.

"Not that I know of," the dark-haired SOLDIER frowned at the form, half in disgust at the amount of red-tape Shinra required for a simple journey across the continent.

"Estimated time of arrival at the Mythril Mines?"

"I'd say about a day from now, give or take."

"Very good, sir. I will radio for assistance from the other side of the mines near Fort Condor. Will a truck like the one now do?"

"That'll be great." Zack finished the form and handed it to the smaller boy. "You might want to inform the boys there that we'll drive the truck ourselves."

"Yes, sir," the guard clipped the form to a wad of official looking documents and saluted again. "Bon voyage, sir, and godspeed."

Zack did his own little salute and returned to the truck, finding Sephiroth wide awake and staring out at nothing in particular. "We're cleared for this town, Sephiroth," Zack climbed onto the driver's seat again, leaning back in relief. "So do we set off now, or is there something in this town we need to do?"

"Well, yes, there is one particular thing," the silver-haired General was nonchalant as he pointed at the quiet town of Kalm, "our guests for the trip have gone into the town for some light refreshments, and I'm afraid we'll have to wait for them."

"For him," the dark, disembodied voice of Vincent corrected, booming out from the back of the truck again, succeeding in making Zack jump and Sephiroth raise a pale eyebrow. "The Lord Avon has gone outside to scout for information that can otherwise not be provided by a Shinra outpost. He will be back soon."

"As a matter of fact," the voice sailed easily into everybody's ears as the doors to the cargo was swung open, and Cloud stepped in, "here I am."

The trio watched with slight interest as Cloud darted a head outside of the cargo bunk, and, seemingly satisfied over something, shut the double doors and secured it.

"Been out spying?" Zack laughed, starting the engines and stepping on the accelerator once everything was in place.

"I have some fresh information about the good Professor I thought we might find useful," Cloud nodded, a slight smile tugging at his lips. "It seems that the Professor's entourage has passed just about half a day ago, and they have bought some fresh supplies of weapons and materia - interesting isn't it? Before they left they did hand over a stock of their worn out armaments to the shop-owner, and I was able to procure a couple, which you can see here," he brandished a standard issue rifle, as well as a standard issue sword.

They looked normal enough under the guise of darkness, but at Cloud's beckoning Vincent held a light against the weapons. Zack could not turn around to see what had happened to them since his eyes were fixed on the road, but he knew that Sephiroth had suddenly grown very interested, and that usually did not bode well.

"That's a pretty sight," the General commented blandly. "Were they eaten away by acid?"

"Likely, but most probably not," Cloud lowered the deformed and semi-melted weapons to the floor. He opened his mouth to say something, but thought the better of it. A few seconds passed before he next said, "I have a few questions I hope you can answer for me. As you can most probably tell, my friend and I are strangers to this terrain. Are there any other routes from Midgar to Kalm town besides the one we just took?"

"None," Zack shook his head, "the route to Kalm is a very straightforward march."

"So... are there any monsters or anything at all that could render an entire regiment's weapons useless like," he fingered the broken rifle gingerly, "this?"

"The route from Midgar to Kalm is quite well-traveled, but there has been no such documented cases," Sephiroth replied. "In fact," he added, "the way those weapons were damaged are completely new to me as well."

Zack whistled in appreciation. Few things, if any, were new to Sephiroth.

"One last question then: Was Professor Hojo known to talk to himself?"

There was silence.

"I'm sure every psycho talk to themselves once in a while," it was Zack.

"No, not really," Sephiroth interrupted, "he has been known to mumble incessantly to himself, but if by 'talk' you meant talking in loud, coherent sentences, then no, I have never heard him do that."

"According to the people of Kalm whom I interviewed," Cloud began, "he was most definitely talking in loud, coherent sentences. The people said he was bawling out things like 'you act too willfully', 'the safety of my people', 'we must bide our time', 'the apparatus will be repaired' etcetera etcetera." He paused. "And he said all that while looking at his outstretched right palm."

"His outstretched right palm?" Sephiroth sounded amused. "Now that's something to take note of."

"Indeed it is," Cloud passed a knowing glance across Vincent, which escaped the notice of the two SOLDIERs in the front seat. "Anyway, if we keep at our rate, we may catch them before they cross the Mythril Mines. Hopefully."

"I'm sure we will." Zack grinned. "Because I'm speeding, and that's where we're headed right now."

"Don't we need to stop by the Chocobo Ranch?" Cloud queried in confusion.

"Whatever for?" The dark-haired SOLDIER was also confused.

"Uhm... nothing..." Cloud had intended to ask about the Midgar Zolom and the marshlands, but saw that Vincent was shaking his head at him and refrained himself. There was silence once more from the cargo portion of the truck, and nobody spoke anything anymore. Sephiroth and Zack both threw each other a glance which was reminiscent of the talk they had previously about whether the cannon in Junon was mounted or buried. Yet, hearing that their guests were not about to speak up again, they, too, lapsed into a comfortable silence, satisfied with just concentrating on what was at hand.

Thunder boomed overhead, and dark clouds gathered, casting an ominous shadow over the dry land. The winds picked up, but the air stiffened. The moment the truck disappeared into the thick mist, the heavens opened up, and rain poured onto the land.

"You know, it doesn't usually rain so suddenly on flat lands," Zack mused thoughtfully, turning the vehicle wipers on.

"Perhaps we're about to meet up with some unusual event, then."

 

\-------------------------------  
... end five ...  
9/7/2003


	6. Chapter 6

Standard disclaimers apply.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... timeless . ageless . changeless ...  
\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... six

 

The downpour had not deigned to subside even slightly by the time the truck had tottered near to the Mythril Mines. On the contrary, it now poured with a vengeance like never before. Zack pulled the truck to a stop, leaving the headlights and wipers on, before consulting the map in the glove compartment. Before long he looked up and squirmed, trying to make out what was in the vague greyness looming before the truck - to no avail. With a sound of disgust he folded the map up and flung it across the dashboard - much to Sephiroth's amusement. "Something the matter?" The General was as cool as Zack was heated up.

"Damn straight," Zack grumbled, leaning heavily backwards into his seat and blowing out a sigh of resignation, "we're in that dry desert patch near the Mines, and this confounded rain isn't helping me get my bearings right."

The silver-haired warrior chuckled.

Suddenly, the barely audible rain became crystal clear to the two SOLDIERs sitting within the constraints of the truck. The unadulterated sound of the heavy drops beating on dry earth could be heard coming from the back of the truck, together with a sound which indicated that someone had opened the doors. It soon returned to a muffled smother, and Zack wondered if he had heard that right. A knock to his window told him that he had.

"What is it?" Zack had to shout over the rain after winding down his window to address the hooded Cloud, who had evidently slipped out of the back of the truck and was now standing beside the driver seat where Zack was.

"I don't really know," Cloud had to raise his voice as well, "but something's wrong."

"What is he saying, Zack?" Sephiroth inquired none-too-amiably, the rain having drowned Cloud's voice out for him.

"He says he thinks there's something wrong," Zack looked at the General, bemused, "personally though, I think the rain is the only thing that could be wrong."

Sephiroth sat only but for a few moments more in the truck.

"Take your sword. Out of the truck. Now." The General wasted no words and had exited the truck before Zack could blink. All his years of following the silver-haired man had not been for nothing, and Zack knew that when Sephiroth said 'get the hell out', he had better get the hell out.

"What's going on?" He was not, however, going to let this go without an explanation. The moment his foot touched the first step of the truck leading to the driver's seat, however, he knew why Sephiroth had given the order.

Looming before the large vehicle, gradually coming into view, was a snake of even larger proportions. It towered above the truck, scales glinting in the mist. The monster slid one hideously forked tongue out, and the next thing Zack knew, its large head steadily headed for a crash course with the front of the truck.

The crash was so loud, even the rain could not drown it out.

"What in the world is that?!" The dark-haired man was dumb-struck with horror, having barely jumped clear of the vicious fangs.

"A very big snake?" Cloud's voice came from somewhere to his left.

Before Zack could come up with a smart-ass reply, the 'big snake' lifted its jaws from the deflated truck and swung its gigantic tail around, succeeding in flinging the truck into the mist, where it could not be seen. Only when they heard the sound of it landing could they confirm that it was there and it was not a figment of their memory that some big snake had just thrown it aside like a broken rag doll.

The snake vanished into the grey mist soon after that - its constant hissing becoming the only indication that it was still around.

"The mist is extremely thick today," Sephiroth's musing voice came to be heard, "I can barely see two feet ahead of me."

"That's not funny, Sephiroth," Zack blanched. If even the highest ranked SOLDIER with enhanced Mako eyesight could not make out what was two feet ahead of him, then they were in for some deep trouble.

Without warning whatsoever, a blurred figure flitted in front of Zack. For a moment Zack thought the snake was going for its second round of attack and raised his weapon in slight alarm. He only calmed down after he saw that it was a human who stood in front of him - the hooded stranger to be precise.

Cloud turned his head and glanced briefly at Zack from under his veil, putting a finger to his lips to ask that Zack remained silent. Unsure of what Cloud's intention was, Zack blinked and did as told. Assured that he had the darker-haired SOLDIER's cooperation, Cloud then began to examine the surroundings with great fervour.

As his examination drew to a close, Cloud retrieved a gleaming green gem from the pouch strapped around his waist and loaded it into his armour, turning around to address Zack in a low whisper, "The moment the thing comes, give him your best uppercut!"

"Wha... ?"

But Zack had no more time for questions. A swirl of cool energy encompassed Cloud, who held a hand over the materia armour strapped to his wrist. Zack thought he could vaguely see the green orb glow intensely. Then with a burst of light a bright flame spiralled upwards from the outstretched palm of Cloud. The fire did nothing to illuminate the surroundings, although it did generate a massive amount of heat. Zack was about to point that out to the mercenary in front of him when the hiss of the large serpent got progressively louder.

Until finally, the large snake slithered into full view, towering above the duo with saliva slowly dripping off its sharp, massive fangs.

Cloud cancelled the spell at once and gave Zack one helpful nudge in the ribs before jumping clear of the snake's line of destruction. The SOLDIER quickly snapped out of his confusion, his basic instincts for survival taking over. He readied his weapon, just as the serpent widened its jaws. But before the snake could lower its head in offence Zack's Buster Sword was already deeply lodged in its guts. Still, the man was not yet through with the monstrosity. He twisted around so he was in a better position to jump, and the snake could never guess what was going to befall it until Zack leapt into the air, blade in hand, to disembowel the felony which had, just now, been threatening their lives.

In the distance, veiled by fog, Cloud watched his former mentor perform the skill with wist.

"You know, I've always wanted to see him do that," he said plainly, knowing Vincent was somewhere around. There was a desperate edge to his tone. He tried commendably to sound detached but was not able to cover the grief which slipped occasionally through his sentences. As if words were his only consolation, he continued rigidly, "he promised that he'd show me some day... even described how he'd do it... back when we were still in the lab in Nibelheim..."

"He didn't break his promise," Vincent interjected. There was a stern whiff of closure in his tone - he wasn't going to let Cloud talk anymore about the tragedic period which changed his life forever.

Slowly, Cloud's lips curled upwards in a knowing smile. "It sure took him long enough."

"Yo, guys!" Zack had taken to shouting, now that the snake was but a puddle of twitching skin and scales behind him. "Anybody around?"

"Yes, sir," Cloud mockingly replied as he made his way over to where he knew Zack was. "I hope you're not hurt."

"No," the SOLDIER confirmed, but frowned nevertheless, "but I've got snake guts in my hair... no thanks to you..." he afforded the chuckling Cloud a singular glare.

"Well then," Cloud shrugged and proceeded to dig around his pouch, eventually emerging with a red orb, "now that the snake is not an issue anymore... I suppose a strong gust of wind would take the fog away without exposing us to anymore danger!"

The orb was thrown so that it hovered in the air. With both palms facing but not touching the suspended materia, Cloud began to call for a typhoon. Zack first felt the familiar stream of cold energy the blond mercenary was emitting, before a burst of light from the materia forced him to look away. In an instance after that, torrential winds threatened to blow him off his feet, and the only thing preventing him from being knocked over was his large blade, which he had stabbed into the ground for support.

The process took a while, but the fog eventually moved off the area - only a thin veil stubbornly refusing to budge. The heavy rain softened when the dark clouds were forced to migrate, and as soon as visibility became clearer Cloud stopped the summon, allowing the floating materia orb to fall into his palm. He kept it and wiped some sweat off his brow, breathing heavily. "Well what do you know," he was good-natured about his success in weather control, although evidently taxed by the method, "it worked."

"You didn't expect it to?" Zack raised an eyebrow.

"Well..." the blond mercenary began nervously. He couldn't very well tell Zack that this was the latest materia about elemental summoning in development a few thousand years down the stream of time without having to go through another tedious process of explanations, so he settled for diverting the SOLDIER's attention, "... Hm? Where's the great Sephiroth?"

"?" Zack glanced around himself, finding that he was with Cloud and Vincent, the latter standing a good distance away - while Sephiroth was nowhere to be seen. "Now that you mention it..."

"He's over at the outpost," Vincent pointed helpfully at a dark spot further up, nearer the mountains, which looked every bit like the shape of a standard Shinra outpost hut.

"Right..." With a hand over his forehead to shield his vision from the dim sunlight, Zack glanced towards the direction Vincent was pointing at, "... we weren't so far away from our destination after all, it seems! Come on!" He started on a slow jog towards the shack, not looking back to see if the others were following him.

Cloud saw Zack off until he could no longer see him clearly in the mist. Then he turned to look at Vincent, a silent inquiry passing between the duo.

Finally, the raven-haired ex-TURK shook his head. "I was too late." He uttered.

The blond turned and looked away, his frown visible through his veil.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

"Yo!" Zack shouted, hoping to solicit a response from the silver-haired General, who was bent over something, "Yo, Sephiroth!" he tried again, coming to a stop beside the black-clad man. "What are you- !!"

Neither the thin layer of mist nor the soft patter of the rain could do anything to mask the disaster at the outpost. Zack's faced turned white in shock first, then flushed red with anger. "What happened?!" He demanded.

Before them, lay two Shinra troopers - recognizable only by their dirty blue uniforms and standard issue rifles, bent wildly out of shape. The roof of the outpost hut had been caved in, with large splinters jutting out in strange directions to indicate that the depression had been done suddenly by something with great strength. An obscene amount of blood lay spattered across the hard dirt, the rain having done nothing but spread the stain further and further.

Sephiroth used the tip of the Masamune to lift the helmet of one of the fallen troopers slightly upwards, dropping it almost immediately after. "Looks like we can't do anything here anymore," he murmured silently, turning away from the scene. "The large snake got to the outpost before we ever had a chance to help them."

"I've never heard of anything like it before," Zack was still in a state of shock. From behind him, Cloud's footsteps could be heard getting closer and closer. The mercenary only spared one terse glance at the bloody carnage, prefering to quickly step away from the bodies towards the broken outpost, peering through its window.

A few times he attempted to reach in to pull something out, but held back at the last moment. Finally, he took a deep breath, stuck his entire hand into the outpost, and pulled out - together with a ghastly white, dismembered hand - a radio transmiter.

He turned around to face his comrades, sheepishly saying, "I was wondering if I should pull it out with the hand and all..." After examining the radio for a while, he shrugged, "Looks like I shouldn't have. The radio's not working."

"Do you suppose they managed to radio for help before they were attacked?" Zack asked.

Cloud looked at the hand, still hanging limply from the radio set. "That is a question I would love to have an answer to as well."

"I don't suppose we could try to salvage the wireless in the truck..." The spikey-headed SOLDIER peered around himself.

"I just did," Vincent held out what remained of the wireless - a square box with protruding wires and loosened nuts and bolts.

"Then it's a one way march from here until we reach the next outpost," Sephiroth pursed his lips, "we'll have to trek through the Mythril Mines without a guide."

There was heavy thud from behind them. Then a shadow loomed eeriely.

"That hiss sounds terribly familiar," Zack smiled. His three comrades were already high-tailing towards the gaping entrance of the Mythril Mines just next to the broken outpost. "HEY!" He yelled, quickly following them - not a moment too soon, for a gigantic snake tail demolished the spot he had just been standing on, forcing dirt particles to fly into the air. "You bunch of lousy traitors!" Zack called out, making a mad dive for the entrance just as the large snake slithered dangerously close. Zack succeeded in entering the cave, just as the snake's head got skewered by the sharp side of the Masamune. It gave a tremendously loud roar, causing bits and pieces of loose rocks to come tumbling off the cavern ceilings, before it stopped trembling and hung limp against the blade.

"Aw, come on," Cloud was saying, as Sephiroth made sure the thing was dead by poking it a few more times with the long, silver blade, "we were sure you would be tough enough to withstand the heat."

Zack glared.

"Do you suppose Hojo passed through these caves?" Vincent's sudden question surprised everyone - even Cloud.

"I suppose so, he has to if he wants to get across the mountains." Zack answered.

"I believe their entourage took the helicopter as well," Sephiroth corrected.

"Oh."

"That means this cave is safe," Cloud muttered under his breath. But that did not stop the two SOLDIERs with superhuman abilities from overhearing his mumble.

"What is it you know that you're not telling us?" Sephiroth's voice immediately boomed, the close confines of the cavern giving it an evil echo. Zack squirmed, knowing his General's temperament all too well. Cloud, however, was nonplussed. He made a movement to look like he was staring at the silver-haired man, and then he chuckled.

"Shall we trek further so that we have a place to rest first? This may take pretty long to explain."

 

\-------------------------------  
... end six ...  
11/7/2003


	7. Chapter 7

Standard disclaimers apply.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... timeless . ageless . changeless ...  
\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... seven

 

Sephiroth had expected the tunnels to be far more complicated than a few twists and turns in the one-way route. After all, that was what Shinra always publicized. He snorted at the thought, although he could understand why the Company wanted so desperately to keep the caves for themselves. The Mythril Mines were a cavern of precious minerals - bound to make any miner rich by the year. Mythril was a highly sought for mineral that could be cast into various armaments, as well as sturdy vehicles. Many of the standard issue SOLDIER weapons were also fortified with a dose of Mythril here and there. This was a secret Shinra would want the public's noses out of, indeed.

What surprised him more, was the ease in which Cloud navigated through the Mines. For someone claiming to be 'foreign to the terrain', Cloud sure acted as if he knew every nook and crany of the volumous cave like the back of his palm. He also noted with interest that while they faced various weak monsters in the course of their trekking, Cloud never again drew the large blade he had used on the night they met. Instead, the mercenary relied heavily on his wide assortment of materia - bombarding the monsters with spells they couldn't handle ten times over. And sometimes, with spells Sephiroth had never seen before.

Before long they came to a snug little cavern, with a backdrop of mesmerizing green mako cascading gently and slowly down into where the miners would have to descend to retrieve their Mythril. The ground was soft and slightly damp, but Cloud decided it was time to take a hiatus. He sat down heavily on the ground and breathed.

Zack immediately followed his cue. "Thought you'd never stop!" He laughed. Vincent lurked around somewhere nearby, but Sephiroth graciously took a seat as well.

"All right," the General was quick to come to the point, "now you explain." He said, as he looked at Cloud seriously.

The mercenary sat bowed with an unreadable, veiled expression on his face, twiddling his thumbs in consideration. Finally, he lifted his head and began in a raspy voice, "What do you want to know?"

For a few seconds Sephiroth was unable to answer the question. Mainly because he had too many things to ask the mysterious mercenary, but none of them seemed to be a good starting point. Eventually he settled on a topic, saying, "Why is it that the Mines will be safe if Hojo didn't pass through it? What has the good professor got to do with any of the strange things we have been seeing so far?"

"Well," Cloud bit his lips slightly, lifting a finger in explanation, "do you remember the distorted weapons we got at Kalm town?"

Both Sephiroth and Zack nodded.

"I know what was it that made them into such a shape."

There was a pause.

"You do?" Sephiroth was slightly surprised.

Cloud didn't respond, choosing to turn his head in all directions as if looking for something. Eventually his gaze settled upon a rock the size of his palm which was within his reach. Picking it up, he threw it into the air, and raised an outstretched hand towards the stone. Zack distinctly saw a green orb on Cloud's Mystile armour glow, and then without warning whatsoever, the suspended stone got to be surrounded by a light, wispy glow.

And when it fell to the ground again, it had melted and deformed - right before their very eyes.

"Energy," the blond mercenary was saying, trying hard not to gasp for breath, "difficult spell, that is! But that's a silent killer if I've ever seen one."

The great General Sephiroth was looking decidedly stunned.

"Wait a minute," Zack shook his head, "you're not trying to tell us that /HOJO/ could cast spells like that?"

"Well, no, not literally," the blond mercenary chuckled, taking the deformed stone and flinging it towards the two awe-struck SOLDIERs, "but with a secondary device to help him, I'm sure it'll be a piece of cake."

"You mean like materia?" Zack was still nonplussed. "You're trying to tell me the good professor can use materia? A materia that's so strong that even you have difficulty using?"

Cloud didn't know whether to feel honoured that Zack thought very highly of his casting abilities, or thoroughly freaked out that Sephiroth was eyeing him with more and more suspicion as the seconds ticked by. He sighed, knowing that he couldn't hide it from the SOLDIERs any longer. "No," he began slowly, clasping his wrist armour subconsciously, "Hojo - he has the Energy Sphere."

It took all but ten good seconds for the full import of the message to sink into everybody's head.

"The Energy Sphere?" Zack blurted out suddenly, breaking the silence. "I thought you were looking for something called some indicator or whatnot?"

"He needed the Indicator to find the Energy Sphere," Sephiroth quietly furbished.

"What IS this Energy Sphere thing, then?" Zack was close to flinging his hands around in confusion. In the next instant, all eyes were fixed firmly on Cloud, who winced slightly at the sudden attention. "Well, Mr. Ipsen?" The dark-haired SOLDIER folded his arms across his chest and awaited an answer.

"Perhaps," Cloud spoke up after an uncomfortable silence, "I should start from the very beginning."

Vincent glanced at Cloud from the corner of his eyes with something akin to alarm. In response, the blond mercenary shot the raven-haired man a stoic look, beseeching him to keep silent and let Cloud do the explanations for now. Vincent's defensive mechanism quelled slightly. He relaxed back into the shadows and waited for Cloud to say his piece.

"We are mercenaries," Cloud began, "currently hired by an esteemed inventor to guard his wares, laboratory, and run some errands if necessary. Our latest errand brought us to the Shinra Headquarters. I'm sure you don't need me to fill in the details about that particular encounter."

Zack chuckled, although Sephiroth remained impeccably attentive.

Cloud continued, "The Energy Sphere is the inventor's latest piece of invention. He cherishes it very much, although it isn't actually ready to be used." He paused.

"And?" Sephiroth prompted after there was a long stretch of silence. "What was the original purpose of this Energy Sphere?"

Cloud and Vincent exhanged brief glances.

"There is no purpose," Cloud finally said, shaking his head slightly, "the Sphere was just a conduit for the wielder to control the flow of energy contained within it. Take, for example, the Indicator we're currently looking for," the blond gestured slightly, "the Indicator serves primarily as a device which can locate any given item within a large area. Which is why we using it to look for the Sphere. It also serves another purpose - one that can only be achieved if we find the Sphere." He breathed. "The Indicator, once charged with the power within the Sphere, will teleport us back where we truly belong."

For a while, only the soft gushing of mako against stone could be heard.

"You make it sound like you're aliens," Zack blandly stated.

Cloud only smiled in response.

"That doesn't explain why Hojo is dangerous with the Sphere," Sephiroth interjected rather disdainfully. "Although there are a lot of things you can do with that amount of power..." he mumbled to himself. Then, in a louder voice, he continued, "... What does Hojo and that Sphere have to do with the deformed weapons we are seeing, and the mutated monsters hanging around where they passed through?"

"You see," Cloud chuckled nervously, "like I mentioned before, the Sphere is quintessentially not ready for use. It was a mistake to let it escape out of the lab in the first place. It contains a massive amount of power only because it was infused with human will. The inventor I was talking about was testing out ways of dulling the effects of the Sphere going off by itself and doing things it wanted to. So far it had gone smoothly - until one too ambitious assistant let himself get blinded by greed..."

"The Sphere is powerful enough to mutate monsters by its own will alone," it was Vincent, who spoke with a sombre softness, "and its primary attack consists of the energy spell you saw Cloud throw just now."

Zack gaped in absolute awe, while Sephiroth's mood considerably darkened. "This can only mean bad things." The General muttered.

"Since the inhabitants of Kalm has so kindly informed us that Professor Hojo was talking with the Sphere," Cloud began to rise to full height, "it gives us hope that the Sphere and the good Professor doesn't exactly agree on certain things. The situation, however, is not looking very bright, as you have mentioned." He shot a brief look at the silver-haired General.

The General reciprocated. After a long silence, he queried, "Do I know this inventor?"

Smiling, Cloud replied, "I wish you did - then we can all go to his lab and whip him up really bad."

"He sounds like he lives somewhere I don't have access to," Sephiroth blinked. There wasn't any place at all on the Planet he didn't have access to.

"Well," Cloud turned around, ignoring that comment, "shall we be on our way? I want to reach Fort Condor soon so I can get some rest."

"Fort Condor?" Sephiroth echoed, a twinge of hesitation evident in his tone.

The mercenary turned around to regard the General questioningly.

"You don't know that the people of Fort Condor..." the black-clad SOLDIER held a hand to his chin in mock ponder, "... have something against the Shinra soldiers... do you?"

Cloud jerked visibly, as if he just remembered something - not exactly untrue. His long forgotten memories of his dealings with the Fort Condorians came rushing back to him and he groaned inwardly. Yes. They had something seriously BIG against anybody Shinra, and to hope that they would allow the most prided upon General of the Company to swagger into their Fort was incomprehensible.

"It's either that, or the forests," Vincent pointed out helpfully, jolting everybody out of their train of thoughts.

"Or a non-stop trek to Junon!" Zack offered the other option in his most cheery voice. Everybody glared at him.

"Maybe we can spend the night here..." Cloud glanced around at the surroundings. "It doesn't look so bad..."

"No!" The spikey-headed SOLDIER immediately protested. "I was joking about the trek... I want real food! A real bed and real entertainment, dammit! I haven't had a good rest from since I came back from that stupid Midgar patrol!" He took this time to turn and glare at Sephiroth, who looked away innocently. "And it's all your fault!"

Cloud and Vincent tried hard not to show their exasperation.

"Anyway," Cloud eventually spoke up, "the nearest civilization exists in the form of Fort Condor. And they do not like Big SOLDIERs like yourselves."

"You could," Vincent's voice actually sounded happy, and Cloud decided he really didn't want to hear what Vincent was going to suggest, "rush in and make a ruckus. Laugh maniacally for good measure. Swing your swords around a bit. Then there would be chaos and we can sneak into some comfortable beds for a good rest before they find out."

While Cloud resorted to glaring in disbelief at his friend, a lightbulb could literally be seen turning on above Zack. "That's an idea!"

"No it's not," Cloud growled. Behind him, his red-caped friend chuckled. "Can't you suggest things that are /normal/ for once, Vi-" the blond stopped himself quickly, "... Colin. I swear, you need to tighten the screws in your head a bit."

"I wasn't aware that I had screws in my head."

"..." Cloud stared at Vincent. "... that would explain a lot."

"Ladies," Zack held a hand up to each of the duo, "if you're done squabbling now, I would like to remind you that we have a journey to make!"

"You /want/ to go to Fort Condor?" Sephiroth raised a pale eyebrow at Zack's insinuation.

"No, Sephiroth, sir," Zack wagged a finger and shook his head playfully, "'want' is such a wrong word. I don't want to get there. I _DESPERATELY NEED_ to get there!! I yearn, dammit, for a nice, soft bed tonight - nevermind I have to sleep in a rebel faction's underground barracks!" A fist was waved in the air for extra bravoda. "Have I made myself clear?!"

There was an awe-inspired silence.

"So how do you propose we get the Fort Condorians to willingly house us?"

More silence.

"Damn. I knew I forgot something."

 

\-------------------------------  
... end seven ...  
31/7/2003


	8. Chapter 8

Standard disclaimers apply.

A/N: this may be a strange... hard-to-understand chapter. it's an answer to a challenge by chrysan: write a fic/chapter in which Cloud's companions stumble upon or otherwise find out about the clothes he procured from his Wallmarket stint.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... timeless . ageless . changeless ...  
\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... eight

 

It was a simple room, one of many within a large mound of soil. Despite the evident lack of lighting, the room was comfortable and cooling. It was sparsely but adequately furnished, with two beds, a desk and a few chairs and stools.

Seated on one of the stools, with his back against the wall, was Sephiroth. He had his hands crossed and was tapping one of his feet on the ground to a slow, imaginary tune.

The lack of lighting did not betray the vulpine smirk on his face.

"You know, you really surprise me sometimes," his voice suddenly boomed out, as commanding as a General's voice should be. It was, however, tinged with an obvious shade of amusement.

"I surprised the Great General. What an honour," was the stingingly sarcastic reply by the formerly prone form lying on one of the beds, a bandaged hand slung over his head. He made a movement to turn his head to one side, scoffing slightly.

Sephiroth, however, let the sarcasm slide down his back as he laughed casually. "Thanks to you," the silver-haired General winked furtively at the figure on the bed, nevermind the figure wasn't paying attention to him, "we got into Fort Condor, without too much a fuss. But like I said, you really surprise me sometimes, Ipsen."

"Shut up already!" Cloud almost yelled, while grabbing a nearby pillow and tossing it with vehemence at where Sephiroth was seated. Needless to say, the man caught it without much difficulty.

"All right, I'll keep very quiet now." Sephiroth complied. Not two moments later, however, a snicker escaped his lips, and Cloud growled menacingly at him. After waiting for a long while, and ensuring that Sephiroth was no longer thinking happy, sunny thoughts about what Cloud glumly dubbed 'My Greatest Embarassment', the mercenary's thoughts then reluctantly drifted backwards, to the events which had transpired a few hours prior.

The events which led to this entire Fort Condor fiasco.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

Cloud knew he should not have let Zack begin talking about his Brilliant Plan.

For starters, he harped on about Vincent's suggestion of barging in and creating chaos. Then, when both Cloud and Sephiroth made it clear that they refused to partake in that plan, he improvised a little and suggested that they snuck in like ninjas and find some deserted spot to sleep in. When that didn't work either, he descended into a chasm of ridiculous ideas, which sometimes included ice-cream sticks, fishing rods, and an assortment of boots and shoes.

Finally, he said something that caught everybody's attention.

"How about a disguise?"

The SOLDIER paused to check his comrades' reaction. Most of them had given up reacting after he ranted about casting frog spells on all of them so they could jump into the Fort without being discovered, but this time, three heads perked up and looked at him interestingly.

"A disguise?" Sephiroth was the first to speak up. "That might not be too bad-"

"We'll disguise as girls!" Zack's next statement made the silver-haired General's words die on his lips. "Nobody can say no to a damsel in distress!"

There was a deathly, grave hush thereafter.

"No," the denial was enunciated in a painstakedly precise manner by all three of Zack's companions.

"Well then, have you guys got any better ideas?!" The dark-haired SOLDIER gave up and sat down on the cold, hard ground with a huff. "All you've been doing is sit there and shake your pretty heads at whatever I say. Be useful for once and tell me a plan that'll actually work, how about that?"

His comments resulted in a variety of reactions, Cloud turning away, Vincent lowering his head, and Sephiroth putting his hand to his forehead, all too familiar with this routine. "All right," the General saved everybody by speaking out first, "here's what I think. A disguise may do the trick, but we'll need a foolproof one."

"In case you haven't noticed," Vincent interjected, "it is getting quite late, and at this rate, we might as well pitch tent in the caves and start heading for Junon tomorrow."

"NO!" Zack shook his head furiously and did crossing movements with his arms. "That alone, I will not consent to!"

"So," Cloud's finally made himself heard, voice filled with slight irritation, "can we get down to thinking of something that'll really work, instead of some half-baked ploy that'll be seen through immediately?"

"A disguise!" The impatient SOLDIER huffed and stood up again, making waving motions. "Hell, if you guys'll just listen to me, we only need ONE person to be in disguise."

That caused the much needed pause.

"One?" Vincent arched an eyebrow. "That sounds interesting enough."

Cloud could feel the shiver creep happily up his spine. Anything Vincent found interesting was trouble. "Um..." He spoke up, but was stopped by Zack.

"Exactly!" The excited SOLDIER began pacing around the small cavern, a wild, wide grin on his face. "And I know just the guy!" He pointed, and Cloud did not like the fact that Zack was pointing in /his/ direction. "Ipsen, friend! You're the lucky man!"

"... huh?"

"Look at the boy," Zack strode confidently to the seated Cloud and pulled him to his feet. He gestured at Cloud's head. "He's tiny enough to pass off for a little girl!" Ignoring Cloud's loud protests of 'who are you calling tiny?!', Zack continued, "And he's so soft-spoken, even if he /should/ talk, nobody'll suspect anything! How's that for a foolproof plan, huh?"

Despite having psyched himself up for this, Cloud was absolutely unable to bring himself to grace the words spoken aloud with a reply.

"That is a perfect plan," Vincent declared sombrely, when it became obvious that Sephiroth was too busy trying to contain his laughter to say anything.

Finally finding his voice, Cloud snapped, "No it isn't!" He tossed Zack's arm off roughly and backed away from the grinning SOLDIER. "I'm NOT doing it!"

"Come on, now, Lord Avon, I know you are the most self-sacrificing person I have ever met. Look at us, four down-in-the-dumps men trying to find a place to rest for the night. You have more compassion than this, I'm sure."

"I would have actually believed you if you hadn't deadpanned it like that," Cloud remarked morosely to the straight-faced Vincent.

"Look at it this way," it was Sephiroth, and he was trying extremely hard to put a serious look on his face, "it's just a small sacrifice in the outworking of a great purpose."

"That great purpose being?" Cloud's eyes narrowed from under his veil.

"Your being able to return to where you came from, of course!" Sephiroth replied instantly, with a marked tone of sincerity. The impish grin that now took over his face did not particularly aid matters, but at least the suggestion, however fake, made Cloud's head stop trying to push the idea away and instead focus on thinking about how useful it might actually be.

There was a long pause, in which the Mako glided softly down the walls of the mythril chamber they were in.

"Besides," Vincent then broke the silence, "you have all the tools and equipment ready, don't you, Lord Avon? Nice little purple dress just waiting to be used, hiding in the inventory..."

From where he stood, Zack whistled. Almost lewdly. "Is that something I should try probing about?" He winked at the aghast Cloud, who was currently busy training his glare on the smirking Vincent.

"I'm going to kill you when we get back," Cloud silently reminded Vincent.

"We're not going to if you don't agree with the idea," was Vincent's reply, complete with a quick quirk of lips.

The Mako continued gliding off the walls.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

The truce did not last as long as Cloud hoped it would, because when Sephiroth got up to pour himself a glass of water, he practically died laughing halfway through his journey towards the table. The mercenary sighed heavily. "Just what IS it you find so funny about this whole thing anyway? Don't tell me you've never..." the blond paused, "... never..." his voice became progressively softer, "... seen a guy in a dress before..."

At that, Sephiroth's laughter got louder.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

And that was how, after they got Cloud all trussed up in his... feminine portrayal, they stood behind a small hill which faced the Fort, with Cloud cursing himself for letting Zack begin his talk about his Brilliant Plan. The other three were nonetheless emitting auras of amusement. Zack, especially, was ranting non-stop.

"Okay, here's the plan," he gesticulated wildly. "We're going to pretend that we're ferrying an injured Wutai Honourable Lady across the continent - then our entourage got ambushed by evil Shinra militants, and here we are, seeking shelter for just one night!"

"One problem..." Cloud tugged at his veil, which he had adamantly refused to take off, "... two, actually. Firstly - no sane Wutai Honourable Lady would be roaming about in Shinra territory without her own bodyguards, much less get hurt in it. Secondly - you ARE Shinra militants. Top militants, at that. I don't see how you can convince the Condorians that you got waylaid and ambushed by your own people! Really!"

"He has a point," Vincent nodded sombrely.

Zack thwapped his forehead. "Stop worrying so much, you ninnies!" He clenched his fists against his other three companions. "Just do what you have to do, and it'll turn out all right one way or the other! We're never going to get moving anywhere at this rate, do you realize?!"

"He has a point too," Sephiroth nodded sombrely.

Cloud and Vincent turned to stare at each other. After a long pause, Cloud looked away and sighed. "Zack, you are one very scary person to argue against."

"I try my best!" The SOLDIER grinned and gave a mock salute.

Cloud turned his head to look at the skies first. Then he lowered it to glance - presumably (since he remained veiled, and no one could really be sure where he was looking) - at Zack. In the background, Vincent had began searching around his materia pouches.

"What?" The darker-haired SOLDIER felt positively creeped out, although he wasn't sure if he was really being stared at.

"Have you," Cloud began slowly, "ever met any of the Condorians before?"

"Oh yes," Zack nodded. "Many times. With pointy side of sword. Their Golem army and strategic position atop a hill makes it fairly difficult to conquer," he added, glancing over at Sephiroth, as if for confirmation.

The silver-haired General merely shrugged. "Never met them before," he admitted, "Apparently I'm too 'important' for 'minor upstarts' like this."

"Well then, Mr. Important," Cloud almost snorted, "I'll have you know that the Condorians are no weanies when it comes to recognising trauma and injuries. So how are you going to convince them them that they're looking at a real wound with the way we all are now, hm?"

There was a pause.

"I suppose you're right..." Sephiroth rolled his eyes, and then covered them with his hand when a gust of dry wind swept through the area. "This is not going anywhere, you know. Unless you're trying to tell me you want one of us to get a /real/, bleeding, mortal wound-"

A loud sound interrupted the General in mid-sentence, a massive whirl of red-hot flames brushed dangerously close by his right ear. It took all of his self-control not to move as much as he could, seeing how the continuous surge of fire power did not seem to be letting up anytime soon. Fortunately, however, whoever had cast this nefarious spell either did not appear to have him as the target, or had an aim as bad as Zack on crack.

Soon, however, the loud, rushing sound of burning flames faded away into the background, and Sephiroth blinked in wonderment at what had just transpired. He had meant to turn around to bark and glare at the perpetuator, but a solid weight fell into his arms a brief moment later, preventing him from any further action.

It was Cloud. With a smouldering arm.

"Wha-" Zack was the first to speak, and he advanced with shock and rage towards Vincent, who was the obvious caster of the strong fire spell. "What the hell were you doing?!" The SOLDIER grabbed Vincent by a loose fold of his cloak and demanded angrily, shaking the man. In front of them, Sephiroth had snapped out of his reverie and was looking with visible trepidation at Cloud's wounded arm.

The older person, however, merely replaced the gun he was holding into its holster. He stared passively at Zack while pointing to the skies. "Besides the fact that we need a real injury to convince them, I would like to direct your attention to the condors circling us at the moment."

They turned their attention to the large birds in the skies.

"See them?" Vincent asked, once he was sure they had. Without waiting for an answer, he continued, "The Condorians already know we're here. Too late to pull out now."

Zack was nevertheless infuriated. "That doesn't mean that you should-"

"Yes! Dammit! That doesn't mean that you should cast a fire spell on me all of a sudden!" Cloud's voice sounded out, while he examined the damage on his arm with great difficulty as he leaned heavily on Sephiroth. In his good hand, he held an empty bottle of tranquilizer, which he now disposed of - rather shakily - towards the hard soil, shattering it on impact. "Ooww..." The mercenary continued to groan. "Thank you, whoever invented the tranquilizer..."

"You've been hurt far worse before." Vincent shrugged. "In far more sensitive spots too." His tone remained neutral. "And you've lost to none of them."

Cloud growled this time, as he felt his consciousness slipping. "That's not a good excuse!" He last heard himself say, before giving in to the darkness encircling him insidiously.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

According to Sephiroth, who filled him in for the later events, all the Condorians needed was a little push in the right direction with a few sharp words here and there about being 'unbiased' and 'righteous', to offer them all a place to stay for the encroaching night.

"They were very adamant, though, that I stayed confined to within the reaches of this particular room," Sephiroth wagged a finger in mock lecture, "which is why your friend and Zack are both out snooping around for the moment, and helping the Condorians run some errands here and there. On a happier note, though," the General almost grinned, "your friend was right when he said this wound was nothing you should worry about. You've shown resilience that would make any SOLDIER ashamed of himself."

Cloud was glad he missed out the entire racket of bargaining Zack must have made when talking with the Condorians. On the other hand, he found himself agreeing with Sephiroth about his recovery abilities. As time and technology progressed, Cloud observed how advancement in every field gave assistance to many things in the people's lives. Some of it he was glad for; while some of it he was not. One of the things he was glad for was how scientists of his time did not pull a Hojo as regularly as the scientists of this current age did. Much betterments were made, such like the tranquilizer Cloud had managed to down before passing out. These betterments aided warriors like Vincent and himself. Much felony also prevailed, however. As Cloud slowly traversed the realms through different eras, he could not help but notice that the more temporal knowledge people gained, the harder their morals would fall.

So absorbed he was in his thoughts, he did not notice Sephiroth staring at him with a thoughtful look in his eye.

The SOLDIER had questions he would very much like to have answers to, but he was a man of general tact and discretion. Stopping himself from asking the wrong questions - which would unavoidably cause Cloud to clam up more than usual - Sephiroth said instead, "There's something puzzling about the behaviour of the Condorians."

The simple sentence immediately caught the mercenary's attention. Slowly, Cloud rose up until he was in a sitting position on the bed, and he tested his injured arm. More than anything, Cloud was glad that the lighting in Fort Condor was ridiculously bad. This meant that he could remove his veil in full confidence that Sephiroth would not be able to make out his distinct features - thereby making trouble for his future, young self who would be enrolling for the SOLDIER program. And that veil was beginning to get on his nerves anyway. Tearing the thing away, he sighed and eyed Sephiroth questioningly. "What was that thing about the Condorians again?"

"I've mentioned to you that when two of the scouts arrived to greet us," Sephiroth began, "that they were looking absolutely livid, haven't I?" He watched, as Cloud slowly nodded. "Besides that, they were far too easy to bait than usual. It was like something else of a larger nature was on their minds. The Fort has been strangely quiet since we stepped in as well, with nothing more than a bare handful of skittish guards prancing about with terrified expressions on their faces."

"Are you sure they aren't just terrified to see you?" Cloud shrugged and jibed blandly.

At that, Sephiroth rolled his eyes. His slight smile, however, made it obvious that he was more amused than exasperated. "Well, I would love to think so, but I fear that is not the case. Sure, they gave me the usual stare-at-the-weird-eyed-SOLDIER routine, but their attention was focused more on... other things. Like dark shadows in the rooms. Or strange noises coming from the top of the Fort."

"What does all of that have to do with us?" Cloud snorted, tugging unhappily at a loose frill of his dress. "We're just staying the night. Once we get all rested up, we need to go after Hojo with full speed. And you need to get to Junon soon too."

"I wouldn't normally be too worried about minor details like these either," the silver-haired General leaned backwards resplendently, "but when Zack and your friend Colin were on their way out just now, I overheard some of the guards asking them to help out in something that was going on atop the Fort..." Sephiroth paused to ponder slightly, "... it doesn't seem like the Condorians are fighting against the Shinra. They wouldn't have asked for Zack's help in that case. Still, there's this sense of dread at the back of my mind about this whole matter..."

Cloud regarded his companion carefully. It had never come across to him that Sephiroth - the Great Sephiroth - would ever be hesitant over matters. It hadn't occurred to him that Sephiroth actually showed facets of emotions besides lofty determination. Looking at the General now, Cloud could make out a trace of concern etched on his features. The moment passed quickly though, when Sephiroth turned to look in Cloud's general direction.

The mercenary blinked, then returned to staring at his knees. "Don't worry about them, they can take care of themselves."

Upon hearing that, Sephiroth actually grinned, and relaxed into his seat. "Exactly."

"We'll just have wait for them to come back and give us the full run-down of their misadventures."

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

Outside the Fort, a strange, abnormal storm began to stir.

 

\-------------------------------  
... end eight ...  
25/12/2003


	9. Chapter 9

Standard disclaimers apply.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... timeless . ageless . changeless ...  
\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... nine

 

"I thought you wanted to rest."

Zack stopped examining the potion he had picked up off one of the shops in the Fort, and turned around to stare at Vincent questioningly.

"Weren't you the one complaining non-stop about how we needed to quickly and immediately find a place to stay for the night so that you could get your beauty sleep?" Vincent tried again.

"Awww, come on!" Zack waved Vincent's words aside, as he replaced the potion on the counter and turned to look at other things. "We've got plenty of time till the witching hour! And! It's not everyday you get to walk around in shops without shopkeepers!"

Temporarily taking his watchful eyes off the unpredictable SOLDIER, Vincent examined the silent room before him. After the Condorians had warned them not to let Sephiroth loose on their Fort, they left two trembling guards to take care of the room in the inn they were given. It didn't take long for Zack to talk them into letting him and Vincent out for a bit of exploration. Not, however, before the guards stopped them for a little conversation.

"You're not suspicious at all about the little favour they ask of you," Vincent stopped wondering about the shops and turned instead to Zack, who appeared to be quite done with his examination as well.

The SOLDIER returned the look. "You mean the little favour they ask of US."

"You agreed to it," Vincent wisely rebuked, "I did not."

Instead of mouthing a direct reply, Zack cocked his head and smiled non-committedly at his partner. "So you mean you're not going to help the Condorians, and leave a Shinra SOLDIER to do the job instead?"

"Nice try, wise guy," Vincent raised a brow back in return. "I will not do anything unless I have full information about the matter as well as the consequences."

Zack rolled his eyes. "You can shake hands with Sephiroth. Gosh, you have no idea how much it bothers me about how alike you both are."

There was a pregnant pause, as Vincent became quieter than he already was.

"Anyway," the porcupine-head continued, sweeping towards the only other exit from the shops in large, purposeful steps, "I'll go check the situation out. You can stay here or go back to the room if you want, Colin. See ya!"

The SOLDIER had not yet taken two steps before he heard another set of footsteps quietly trailing him. "Between," the voice of Vincent easily sailed into his ears, "facing Lord Avon and Sephiroth - who are most certainly doing nothing but staring at either each other or the walls, and going to the top of the Fort for evidently some kind of a workout," he stopped for a breather, then continued, "there really is no need to choose."

The dark-haired Shinra elite could only laugh.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

In truth, however, Cloud and Sephiroth were not staring at the walls, or at each other. The taller person had taken to pacing about around the room, occasionally turning to look at his weapon, then at the door which led outside. Cloud, although pretending to be asleep - right down to regulating his breathing, was in fact restfully observing the tall General's bearing the whole time.

Finally, the mercenary sat up and rubbed his hands on his temples. "Quit stomping around, Sephiroth," although he did admit to himself, that it still felt awkward hearing Sephiroth's name coming out from his own mouth without any visible shred of fear or disdain, "they'll be all right."

"Hm," the silver-haired man made a random noise, "my apologies for disturbing your rest. It's just that I think better when distracted with something mundane." Nonetheless, the General settled back onto the stool he had favoured since entering the room. "If we set off from here tomorrow, assuming no more hiccups happen, we will arrive roughly three days earlier than scheduled for the Junon opening. I truly hope that everything will go according to plan."

Cloud chuckled in response, leaning against the pillow, which he had straightened to support his back instead of his head. He examined his injured limb, testing it carefully. "That makes you and me both."

Without warning, a loud, muffled sound resounded from above the Fort, making both Cloud and Sephiroth jerk their heads to stare at the ceiling, as if hoping they could see through the thick, dried mud towards the source of the noise. Before they had even lowered their gazes, another ear shattering noise reverberated throughout the Fort, causing tremors to quake all the rooms in the mound. Pieces of soil jerked loose, falling onto the ground in small lumps. The lamps hanging precariously over the room swerved with vigour. Cloud and Sephiroth turned to stare at each other, a look of mixed wonderment and dread on both their countenances.

In the next moment, Sephiroth was already halfway across the room, heading for the door, weapon in hand.

"Hold it!" Cloud yelped, in as authorative a voice as he could without having to raise it to a disturbing volume. To his surprise, Sephiroth did stop. The General then turned around to blink questioningly at the mercenary. "Ugh..." The blond was temporarily rendered speechless. He really hadn't expected Sephiroth to listen to him. Quickly shaking out of his reverie, he said, "Don't. The guards won't take your action of leaving the room too well diplomatically. The last thing you want is for the Condorians to start hurling misstatements at Shinra with /you/ being in the middle of it all. You wouldn't want that kind of trouble with the President, would you?"

For a while, all Sephiroth did was to look thoughtful. And as for Cloud, his heart was beating considerably faster. He had never in his whole life thought he would one day be able to speak to the man he highly respected for the better part of his youth in this manner. It was nerve-wrenching, and mind boggling.

It was like they were equals, above everything else.

"I guess you're right," Sephiroth grumbled, returning to his place beside the table, putting the masamune aside. "The noises have subsided as well. The worst must be over."

"Don't forget that we have two top spies out there scouting the terrain," Cloud jested slightly, a small smile visible on his visage, "they'll get all the information for us!"

Sephiroth nodded, and crossed his arms over his chest. He leaned against the wall and closed his eyes in thoughtful meditation.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

The top of the Fort was a massive natural disaster.

Vincent and Zack scaled the ropes to reach the battle terrain quite easily, but was rather surprised to find the main bulk of the fighters huddling unhappily in the observation shelter. Unbridled fear permeated the air, and the duo could not see anyone in the shelter who was not trembling. Zack immediately took a step forward to single out someone he deemed would be in the right frame of mind to talk, whereas Vincent had quickly turned towards the single long window in the shelter, peering at what was outside.

"What's going on?" Zack directed his question to a slightly more armoured Condorian, who looked like the leader. The man ducked his head slightly before glancing upwards at the imposing figure of the SOLDIER. He looked like he wanted to say something, but was shaking too much to form a coherent word. "What happened here?" Zack tried again.

From beside him, he heard a loud click, and when he turned his head he saw Vincent unloading the magazine in his long rifle. Before he could inquire, the red-eyed man took another magazine from somewhere in his robes and loaded that one instead. He cocked the gun and started to walk towards the direction of the door leading out into the battlefield.

"W-Wait!" The man Zack had been trying to question just now found his voice and cried out. "Yo-You don't want to go... go out there..."

Vincent lifted the piece of wood blocking the door, opened the door, and stepped out. Before the door swung shut, Zack saw the warning evident in Vincent's fiery gaze at him.

/Don't follow./

It said.

"Shit!" Zack kicked a loose floorboard and instead of following, rushed towards the window. He peered outside, and for the first time in his visit here realized that there was a raging tempest outside the shelter. With slight awe, he observed the violent windstorm engage in a wild dance with the sandy part of the terrain. "This wasn't here when we came..." he muttered to himself, but squirmed and concentrated on the outside.

It was a while before he finally saw what he wanted to see, and by that time Vincent had walked a considerable distance from the shelter, his worn cape flapping about violently behind him, threatening to tear off. The winds continued to rage, without any signs of letting up. Zack was nearly ready to shout at Vincent when he saw the creature in all its frightful splendour.

With two large heads, hands, and feet, it was a purple thing Zack knew he had never seen before. It stalked slowly through the flying sand, unaffected by nature's chaotic wrath. To Zack's horror, the mutated monster walked straight towards Vincent, who simply stood still, without flinching. The SOLDIER's jaw grew slack quickly, but he gathered his wits and reasoned with himself that Vincent knew what he was doing. He may not seem entirely sane, but he wasn't that insane either, after all.

As he came to that conclusion, the monster walked just three hulking steps short of flattening Vincent beneath its talons. The thing gave out an absolutely hideous roar, and raised its hands in preparation for an attack. Zack's breath caught in his throat as he tried to muster a warning to his companion, but the need to do so died when Vincent raised his hand as well, the one with the cocked rifle. He took aim just as the monster swung its hands down with massive force, and a loud, sharp sound echoed into everybody's ear when the trigger was pulled.

It could have been the sound, or the action. But either ways, the monster suddenly froze, hands still in an attacking pose. It betrayed no other expression - but that was unnecessary. Vincent prepared his weapon for a second round, and the shot landed dead centre on the monster's torso, where the first shot had been fired as well. Zack thought he could hear the creature grunt, but he could not be sure, as he had to cover his ears at the impact of the second shot, which all but shook the Fort in its foundations. He was rather sure, however, that the monster was beginning to stagger backwards in small, measured steps.

Finally, without much fanfare, the monster tilted its head backwards, and fell stiffly onto the ground. The swirling sand particles claimed it from sight quickly, and Vincent had disappeared as well, when Zack next tried to locate him.

Before anybody had yet gotten over the shock of the scene, the door to the shelter opened quietly, much like how the way Vincent was quiet. Zack turned his head in the direction of the door, and suddenly realized that he was surrounded by clamouring Condorian soldiers, who had lined up beside him, peering out of the window as well. Rolling his eyes in exasperation, Zack forced his way through the awed crowd towards Vincent, who was safe in the shelter once more, and was trying to shake sand out of his hair.

"Damn you!" Zack threw a punch at the other person, who ducked it with ease. "What the hell were you thinking, going up against that thing alone?! Ipsen'll bite my head off if anything happens to you!"

The mercenary spared him a cool gaze, even as he checked his rifle and slowly holstered it back to its proper position. He said nothing, although there was a glint of amusement visible in his previously cold eyes.

"And have I told you how friggin' alike you and Sephiroth are yet?"

This time, Vincent let the amusement touch his upturned lips. He laughed at Zack - not aloud, but with his eyes, before turning around to face the crowd of people who had inadvertedly gathered around the duo.

"Sephiroth? General Sephiroth of Shinra?" A neutral voice asked from somewhere among the throng. "He's here?"

"I think that can be left for later discussion," Vincent's deep, grave tone indicated that he would entertain no disagreement, "could someone perhaps be so kind as to explain the situation of the Fort to us?"

"Especially that mega mutation out there just now!" Zack nodded sagely, causing Vincent to frown at him in disapproval. The SOLDIER merely shrugged and grinned, then jerked his head slightly towards the crowd, who were muttering in soft tones between themselves. Most had began to cast furtive glances in the duo's general direction, and it may be quite a while, Vincent decided, before they were willing to shell out information. Nevertheless, the ex-Turk was a patient man indeed, so he continued sweeping his calculating gaze throughout the shelter.

The movement from the far right of the room attracted by his and Zack's attention. A rugged looking man with armour which had seen better days had stepped forward, evidently the appointed spokesman. This man took a deep breath, before saying, "What do you wish to know, good sirs?"

Zack almost laughed out loud. The bad lighting in the shelter must have obscured his uniform, so much so that none were able to recognise him. He could see Vincent turn to face the man for much needed answers, and so he kept his thoughts to himself.

This was a curious turn of events, after all.

 

\-------------------------------  
... end nine ...  
22/01/2004


	10. Chapter 10

Standard disclaimers apply.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... timeless . ageless . changeless ...  
\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... ten

 

"So a monster with three horns and six legs was rampaging the top of the Fort, in the middle of a mystical, mysterious sandstorm even the Condorians couldn't explain, and you saved the day," Sephiroth curtly summed up the long narrative Zack had treated him and Cloud to after they re-entered the chamber they had been given. His subordinate shrugged first, then nodded in glee. "Wonderful," Sephiroth breathed deeply, trying not to let too much sarcasm out in his voice. "Well done, Zack."

"A pleasure, sir!" The darker-haired SOLDIER saluted smartly, with a large grin on his face.

From his resting place on the bed, Cloud turned to regard Vincent carefully, as if searching for any clues on what had really transpired. Did he trust Zack? Why yes, of course. Zack's account of what had happened was most likely very valid, after he stripped off the fancy details. That would mean that the only words left were - monster, top of the fort, sandstorm, and saving the day. He shook his head. Obviously he was not going to get any rest. "Is it true, Colin?" He asked the morose gunslinger, who shrugged. Cloud sighed again.

"All right. Assuming what you have just said is true," Sephiroth continued after a thoughtful pause, "what bearing does this have on our trip to Junon, and our search for the Professor?"

"There's just one," Zack had not stopped grinning from since his return to the room. "We're going to be stuck here for until the storm blows over, General, sir!"

The silver-haired man /knew/ there was going to be mischief of this sort when Zack had begun his fairy-tale with all the proper formalities, as if wanting to remind Sephiroth that Generals don't kill their subordinates for reporting bad, unwanted news. Coincidentally, Sephiroth /did/ feel like murdering the darker-haired SOLDIER at the moment, subordinate or not, and would have promptly done so if Cloud had not chosen to speak up.

"How long will this storm last?" His voice, though small, was generally devoid of emotion.

"They don't know," it was Vincent this time. "Nobody has ever seen a storm like this on Fort Condor before. Although the Fort resides among the dry wastelands, there has never been a sandstorm on the top of the Fort before. The locals term it as 'supernatural.'" He paused, sweeping his gaze throughout the room. "Does that word strike a chord in any of you?"

There was a healthy amount of silence. Then Cloud broke it with, "The Energy Sphere."

Vincent hesitated to reply, pondering his options carefully.

"We've asked, though," it was Zack who offered the answer, having found a chair somewhere and was now sitting comfortably on it, "the locals have never seen a man of the Professor's description enter or leave the Fort, so it's quite impossible that the Sphere could have travelled here. Unless it grew legs, of course. I wouldn't put it past that powerful ball of mumbo-jumbo, really."

Rolling his eyes at Zack's ability to inject the most pointless comments into his conversations, Sephiroth roused slightly from his chair beside the wall and stated, "He could have been experimenting with the Sphere, and firing it from a long distance. From what I know, the Fort is the single most visible landmark for miles along the exit of the Mines and Junon. It's possible that this was precisely what he did."

"It was the Sphere," Vincent stopped Sephiroth from continuing with an outstretched hand, having finally decided on his stand on this issue. "I may not be an expert like you, Lord Avon, but with all due respect, it does not take an expert to discern that the monster and the weather were both by-products of a Sphere attack gone horribly wrong. Sephiroth was able to do it fairly well, you must agree."

Cloud slowly lifted a hand to touch his chin in mock ponder. He considered Vincent's words carefully, then broached the topic at hand a little more discreetly. "I trust your judgment," Cloud stated, looking in his long-time companion's general direction. "I've been noticing the strange changes we've seen since coming into the Fort as well. This latest piece of news does not make me any less worried. But we can't ascertain for sure what to do next until we have solid evidence that there's something we need to clean up here. Seeing that there is no immediate danger as of yet to the people of this place, We'd better head to Junon as soon as possible first, then figure out what to do with this after we settle our business there."

"Well, there's just something else you might wanna know," Zack waved lazily, throwing a knowing glance at Vincent, who nodded tersely. "The weathermen of the Fort have been evaluating the situation. This whirlpool of sand apparently stretches out for miles around the area - and that's just an optimistic approximate, mind you! While we could try to walk a while in it like our dear friend Colin here had..." he trailed off slightly to allow all eyes to turn to the guilty Vincent, who coughed into his hand, "... walking completely OUT of this area into Junon is a no-no unless we're attempting some quickfire suicide." He ended with a goofy grin.

The silence that followed was resounding.

"You already told us at the outset that we were going to be stuck here," Sephiroth pointed out calmly.

"I know!" Zack's grin stretched. "I just wanted to make sure that nobody here tries to suggest anything funny out of desperation. There's no way you're going to make me try to walk through that batter of rocks and stones, even if we're gonna turn up a year late for the Junon thing!" The SOLDIER had a fist raised in bravoda. His superior glared murderously at him.

"So you don't know how long this storm will last." Cloud declared with humdrum. Zack nodded. "And you never bothered to try to find out." The mercenary queried in a strangely overt tone. Zack nodded again. "Then you expect us to stay cooped up in this infernal pigeon-hole where we can't even our palms outstretched just because of aforementioned two reasons." There were icicles slowly clinking down onto the floor from Cloud's words. Again, Zack nodded.

His reward for his tardiness came in the form of a wayward pillow, slamming with tremendous force into his face. And if Cloud hadn't known any better, he would have thought he could see the imprint of Zack's grin surfacing through the pillow where it had hit.

"I'm not going to stand for being stuck in this place for an indefinite period of time," the blond-haired mercenary shook his head adamantly. "And you guys aren't exactly on a free and easy trip either." Looking up, he saw Sephiroth nod, almost nonchalantly. Zack however, had simply removed the pillow in his face and was now using it as a back cushion. "Colin," Cloud then turned to look at the shadowy form of Vincent, who responded to his psuedo-name by quirking an eyebrow at his fellow mercenary. "You don't happen to have stocked one meteorology materia when you packed, do you?"

"Mine is nowhere near mastered," the older person rummaged in his waistpouch thoughtfully. He captured one orb in his gloved hand and brought it out of the leather pack as he continued, "but it should be of some help."

Walking forward into the faint light of the underground room, Vincent opened his palm and displayed the materia for all to see. The translucent orb glittered with an iridescent glow, even though the indoor lighting was bad. It was as if it had a life of its own. It was not that Vincent wanted to awe all who were standing in the room at the moment, but that was just the reaction he garnered from the two SOLDIERs. He had meant to simply show Cloud that the orb was translucent, which, in their time and understanding, only meant one thing.

"Translucent orb, huh?" Cloud blinked once at the thing in Vincent's hand. He let out a sigh, then gestured for Vincent to toss the materia over. "Materia under development, then. They're not too reliable..."

"It's the most recent prototype," Vincent clarified, "and certified to be 50% more stable than the first one. Don't worry. You won't make the same mistake again, Lord Avon." A taunting smile almost touched the vampire-like man's lips, and he remained entirely unaffected by the hideous glare of a painful death Cloud bestowed upon him.

From the sidelines, neither Sephiroth nor Zack wanted to know what exactly happened when Cloud had obviously been testing 'the first one' out. "As interesting as this conversation is getting," the General pointed out, "you do realize that there is nothing we can do to help unless you tell us what you mean by 'materia under development,' don't you?"

Cloud paused in the middle of inspecting his newly acquired materia orb and appeared to be thinking. Eventually he glanced upwards at the two expectant SOLDIERs in front of him, mildly amused that they were no longer demanding to know things, but requesting to be told. Score for inter-personal progress.

"The same old good professor we work under," Cloud began, "is also an avid fan of materia development. Now, I may say 'materia development,' but in actual fact, 'materia amalgamation' may be a better term to describe it. What the good sir does is that he develops a formula to extract the essence of one established materia or another, then channels the ones he chooses into a translucent placeholder made up of farmed mako crystals - forming a translucent materia orb. Over time, the channelled materia essence start to amalgamate into each other, taking on some of each others' properties. While it is easy to predict what certain combinations can give us, there are other slightly more dangerous combinations that can only be used after giving it a thorough test.

"The completely amalgamated materia will look just like any other normal materia that is naturally developed," Cloud held up a few normal looking matera from his own waistpouch slung casually over the desk by the bedside. He then displayed the translucent one prominently along with the others. "The one still fighting to amalgamate with each other will remain in a translucent state until they decide what kind of materia they eventually will become, meaning that all translucent materia orbs are liable to be unreliable." There was a funny kind of silence when Cloud turned to glance briefly at everybody in the room. He was unsure of what to say now, "Was that... clear enough?"

Zack's response was to whistle a low tune. "Clearer than the sun on a cloudless day, m'Lord," he grinned and flashed the boyish mercenary a thumbs up. "Sorry, but... this just sounds out of the planet. I've never even heard of something like this before - not even in Midgar, not even on Professor Hojo's best days. It's like you live in a totally different world from ours."

Although Zack had intended that to be an offhanded remark, Cloud was immediately plunged into a despairing silence. Quickly, Vincent continued from where Cloud left off, before his lack of composure forced them to need to explain more than they were willing to divulge for the moment. "This tentatively named weatherology materia was mixed with the essence of fire, ice, water, aero, ramuh and typoon materias. We had hoped to develop a materia that could aid in the control of weather, since where we come from, the weather is really, really an issue for survival sometimes. The formula, if I remember correctly, is one of the most complicated to be penned yet. Therefore it was no wonder that the developing materia caused more harm than help in its immediate tests."

"We refined it," Cloud was back in the expoundation, "after testing it out several times. I wouldn't count on it working, though." He firmly stated. "We don't label it 'materia under development' for nothing, after all."

"It's worth a try," the voice of Sephiroth smoothly cut in. There was something about the way he said it that made everybody turn to stare at him. "And I think I have a plan."

Cloud almost bit his lower lip in anxiety. On the one hand, Sephiroth could have a really brilliant plan that could save all their asses and get them to Junon on time. On the other hand, and this was the more probable of the two possibilities - he could have an insipid idea disguised as an intelligent ruse which he needed someone /else/ to pull off. "I damn well hope it's a good one," he finally muttered, putting a hand resignedly to his forehead. He wondered if this trip back in time had been worth anything at all.

"It's not that much of a plan, actually," Sephiroth quickly corrected himself with a brooding look on his face, "because it doesn't require any intelligence at all - just a lot of power."

"What do you /mean/?" Cloud sighed inwardly. "Make yourself a little clearer, General,"

Said General allowed a little chortle to escape his lips. "Well, 'Lady' Ipsen," he began, "it's so simple, Zack could be saying this." Ignoring Zack's indignant protests of being simple-minded, he gestured on, "Our motive is this - we need to get to Junon on time for the opening ceremony, and you need to get there to catch the Professor before he does anything funny with the Sphere and the Indicator. What's stopping us from progressing at the moment? This cursed storm outside. There are some things even a warrior can't fight against, and one of it is the weather. There seems to be, however, this 'materia under development' thing that may somehow control the weather to our advantage. The catch is that it may not work. Here is where we have the possibilities. First, we wait the storm out." He stopped to look around at the others, who shook their heads in various degrees of disagreement. "Thought so," he half-grinned. "Then the only other possibility is to find a way to curb the storm, even if temporarily, then run out while the weather is for us."

Cloud had looked up with interest somewhere in the middle of the monologue, a new kind of admiration developing for the silver-haired General while listening to his briefing. "So you mean to say," he offered, "that we should try to put a hiatus to the storm with the unstable materia, nevermind if we can only get it to stop for a while, and then make a run?"

"In a nutshell," Sephiroth nodded. "You can do that, can't you?" He looked solemnly at Cloud. "Stop the storm for at least an hour or so, so we can make our way out of the radius of the destruction?"

The mercenary thought about it seriously for a while. "I can try." He finally said. "So when do we do it?"

"Tonight," Sephiroth responded easily. "The sooner we leave, the better our chances of getting to Junon on time."

 

\-------------------------------  
... end ten ...  
23/02/2004


	11. Chapter 11

Standard disclaimers apply.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... timeless . ageless . changeless ...  
\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... eleven

 

Sneaking out of the Fort was laughably easy.

The soldiers who had been fighting at the top of the Fort were apparently all resting from their peril, and the guards outside their room were knocked out easily with a Sleepel spell. Sephiroth shook his head at the Shinra Company in general as he marched noisily out of the compounds with his companions. This was the rebel faction they had taken /forever/ to try to subdue? He almost laughed out loud. From the corner of his eye, he could see that Zack was thinking along the same line of thought.

"Sometimes you wonder if they just keep this place as a military regular real-life training base, huh?" The darker-haired SOLDIER winked cheekily. Both Cloud and Vincent turned to stare at the SOLDIERs when Sephiroth laughed. They were still in the middle of their trip outdoors, however, so neither said anything.

But once they touched base at the Fort exit, the words just flowed into existence.

"Would you look at that," Zack almost whistled in appreciation. He was, of course, referring to the huge tornado of sand twisting and whipping about the immediate area outside. The phenomenon stretched for as far as the eye could see, a sandy fog clouding the ground outside, its greyness and haziness a precursor to the situation the four were stuck in at the moment. A loud, soaring noise eliminated anything else that could possibly be heard, and an ironically comfortably wind lashed out at them.

Not one to be denied of simple comforts, Zack took a deep breath.

"This is hardly the time to be admiring the scenery," Sephiroth eyed his fellow SOLDIER with a look of disapproval. Shaking his head at Zack's reaction; which was nothing more than a lazy grin, he turned his attention to Cloud, who was fiddling with the translucent orb Vincent had passed to him. Between the blond and the raven-haired man, they were discussing something in low murmurs, and Sephiroth could not hope to hear them with the din the windy sand was making. Concluding it to be useless to inquire about their discussion, he asked instead, "Well? Do you think you can handle the weather?"

The shorter of the two caped figures broke away from speaking with his fellow and turned to look at Sephiroth squarely. The General did not know when the younger looking fellow had donned his veil again, for he was sure Cloud had torn it off sometime when they were resting in the inn. It was a pity, for he was pretty curious about the mercenary's true looks. Nevertheless, those thoughts were thrown at the back of his mind when Cloud next spoke up.

"Ah, sorry about that. I just needed to confirm something first." Cloud pat Vincent on the shoulder in a reassuring manner and walked hurriedly towards the exit of the Fort. "Well, this is a lot worse than I thought," he remarked morosely while peering through the gaping hole serving as the only way in and out of Fort Condor. Behind him, Sephiroth silently shared the exact same sentiments, although Vincent and Zack did not respond, both having already seen the disaster zone much closer in the face. Turning back to Vincent, Cloud continued, "Do you suppose the materia is even strong enough to curb something like this?"

Vincent's eyes clouded over slightly. He then glanced at the younger person and stated, "I don't believe so. But I don't believe we have any other alternative either."

"How about that spell you used to blow the mist away at the Mines yesterday?" Zack pointed out. "That spell seems to be pretty stable."

"Hmm... the gale materia," Cloud recited the name of the materia out of practice and pondered his options, fingers twiddling around in his materia pouch, trying to come to a decision.

"It won't work," it was Vincent who gave the helpful response. "It can only blow natural clouds away, but not a magically induced sandstorm."

"Well, no harm trying," Cloud shrugged and quickly intercepted, before Zack could start on his long list of possible but impossible suggestions, which very likely involved something downright embarrassing /again/. "If it doesn't work, then we'll capitalize on the meteorology materia." The gale materia was out and equipped onto Cloud's armour before anybody else could put a word in edgewise, and a familiar swirling of cold layers of air wrapped around the team of four.

They waited, while Cloud powered the materia up first. "Does it always take so long to cast the materia you guys make? And is it always so flashy?" Zack wondered aloud, casting furtive glances at Vincent. He was, after all, not expecting the brooding mercenary to answer at all. As he had thought, Vincent remained silent. "I mean," Zack shrugged, figuring he felt like saying his piece nevertheless. "Sure, you got powerful stuff and such, but by the time you do manage to cast it, the enemy would have skewered you by the sharp end of their pointy weapons already. Kindda pointless when you look at it from that point of view, eh?"

The dark-haired mercenary stirred slightly. Blinking, he had his fiery red eyes suddenly upon the two SOLDIERs, scrutinizing them with uncomfortable intensity.

For a while, Zack thought Vincent was going to scold him and then tell him to mind his own business, like Sephiroth probably would have. To his surprise, therefore, Vincent merely said, "That is true. But the really complicated spells usually have nothing to do with combat, so there really isn't anything to worry about. Even if there /is/ a need for a long spell during combat, there are always ways to distract the enemy from the caster. Does the Shinra not emphasis on teamwork for survival at all?"

Zack was about to jokingly reply when the air pressure dipped surely, alerting the languishing trio to the impending presence of a large storm - or at least, the impending presence of a large typhoon. If it was possible to make the storm-filled atmosphere more electric and airy than it already was, then Cloud had certainly found a way to do it.

They watched, two with stark curiosity and one with bland interest, as Cloud's concentration summoned and added to the raging storm outside. Sephiroth vaguely remembered hearing of an old Wutaian proverb which went like this - Fight poison with poison. It seemed to aptly describe what they were doing at the moment, so he ran the phrase through his mind a few times while enjoying the rare sight of rampaging elements.

Torrential gales fought against torrential gales for what seemed like a long period of time, each howling their individual warcries which rocked through the terrain. Before long, Cloud began to slump slightly, a sign that he was losing the battle against the sandstorm. The chilling aura he emanated when focusing on channelling the materia continued to tingle in the air until he terminated the spell suddenly with a soft gasp, slumping against a nearby mound of sand. Outside, the winds simmered, although the storm showed no signs of letup.

Vincent was beside Cloud in an instant. "What happened?" The paler person inquired, a tinge of concern evident in his otherwise monotonous voice. He was about to help Cloud steady himself on his feet when the blond held a hand out to refuse the unspoken offer for help.

"My head hurts," Cloud stated, trying to catch his breath at the same time. He shook his head angrily, as if trying to clear a violent headache away. "I used up too much MP." Still shaking his head. "I... I think I won't be able to cast for a while."

With that, he slid against the mound behind him and settled down uneasily on the ground in a crouch with his head between his hands, leaving the others to stare anxiously at him.

"That wasn't supposed to have happened," Zack bit his lip, "was it?"

"It is an unfortunate event that many of the more difficult spells rely not just on raw MP," Vincent explained, "but also the mental psyche of the caster. Which means to say, if even for a moment you doubt that you can hold the spell, the backlash of the materia will probably give your brain a nice fry." At this point of time he turned towards Cloud and sternly said, "Lord Avon. This has never happened to you before."

"..." Cloud was attempting to drive his brain back to ground zero after seeing it orbit around space for all this while. "There's always a first time for everything, Colin," he grumbled, still holding his head. He absolutely refused to admit that he had gotten nervous. Of course he had! It wasn't everyday two of the few men you ever admired in your life depended on you to help them out of an ordeal. "My head hurts," he repeated, not really knowing why. "And the gale materia didn't work. Get someone else to try the meteorology materia."

The boyish mercenary then concentrated fully on nursing his sore psyche. Vincent took the opportunity to turn around and look at the two SOLDIERs. Eventually, his gaze settled upon the silver-haired General. "General Sephiroth," his words were protocol and devoid of emotion, "could you try to use the materia to curb the storm?"

"You want /me/ to use your materia to curb this storm," Sephiroth's sceptical voice boomed through the otherwise quiet little chamber after a short silence, "after that fantastic display of instability your friend Ipsen just demonstrated to us?"

"These are two different materias altogether," Vincent clarified, holding out the materia Cloud had just been using; which was green, and the materia Cloud had apparently requested for someone else to try - the translucent one. "The Lord Ipsen was using the gale materia to summon torrential winds in hope of blowing the sandstorm into another region - at least, for the time being. It backfired because of the caster's inadequacy, and not because of any inherent fault in the materia itself. In any case," Vincent stopped trying to expound the materia and their nature when he noticed both SOLDIERs staring at him strangely. "I hope that you will treat this as a favour that we ask of you. We simply cannot delay any further. The Sphere must be found quickly, before Hojo manages to tap on its vast source of energy. And to do that, the storm outside must first go."

"Well, hold on to your chocobos first, mercenary," Zack held a hand up to indicate a pause. "Why don't /you/ cast the spell? I'm sure you're more familiar with this new breed of materia than we are, at any rate. Less problems if you have a go at it, ya know?"

There was a thick silence which immediately followed, and Vincent shot the squirming Cloud a brief look, as if seeking approval for his next words. The younger mercenary nevertheless remained locked in an oblivious, quiet struggle with his aching head.

Eventually, the ruby-eyed man turned and looked forthright at the two SOLDIERs. "I cannot," was his simple reply. "My makeup is simply unlike either Lord Avon's or yours. I can use materia, but not complicated ones like these, if I value my living."

"What do you mean, your makeup is different?" Sephiroth shook his head. "You're not a monster," he blinked suddenly, then stared at Vincent. "... are you?"

Before Vincent could answer that, the sound of Cloud scrambling to his feet distracted everybody. It looked like a painful ascent for the dazed mercenary, who struggled to keep his feet firmly on the ground by grasping wildly at the dirt mound behind him.

"Avon!" Vincent mouthed in dismay, walking forward to support his friend. Cloud swat his hands away impatiently, even as beads of cold sweat rolled off his cheeks.

"Don't-" he began, stuttering slightly, "... Don't push it." Slapping a hand to his forehead, possibly an attempt to steady his brain, he continued, "So-... Some things are. never meant.. should never ever be asked. You guys... should know that better than... than anyone else!"

The SOLDIERs blinked, wondering what they had said to make him flare up like this.

"Well, another side-effect of materia backfiring is that you get cranky over the strangest things," Vincent wisely interfered, when it seemed like Cloud had settled down a little. In response, the smaller man growled and sank back onto the ground. "Don't mind the Lord Avon. He'll be all right after a good shot of tranquilizers."

"Oh really," Sephiroth decided that he rather preferred the cranky but frank Cloud over the sedated and poker-faced one he had come to know thus far. "Whatever it is, I guess you both are right. Somebody has to stop this storm, and if I can be of some help, then by all means, show me how."

"It's not that difficult," Vincent threw the translucent orb to the General, who caught it and stared at it. "You equip it like you equip any other materia, and you cast it the same way. Just be careful. Remember what I said about backlash."

Sephiroth tested the materia by powering it with short bursts of MP. He could feel the deep chasm of power the orb held and was reasonably impressed, wondering why the Shinra never paid more attention to materia development, choosing instead to focus on mundane pursuits like Mako power enhancements. He would love to be part of a research team which developed materia that held such potential. "All right," he said at length, flexing his armour with satisfaction. "I'm ready to cast."

"The meteorology materia connects your mind to the current weather, and you have to use the channel to will the weather to calm down," Vincent supplied. "Backlash is just one of the things to worry about if you fail - don't forget that this is also a materia in development, so there must still be some attributes which we are unfamiliar with."

"It wouldn't be half as interesting otherwise, would it?" Sephiroth smirked, the equipped materia orb already glowing with power. "I'll readily admit that this is truly exciting. I'm looking forward to the casting."

From where he stood, Zack almost laughed. If he hadn't known any better, he would have thought Sephiroth was behaving like a child with his newfound toy. The logical part of him forced him to concur instead, that this was just a mature kind of curiosity one usually got when faced with a fascinating, new challenge that would test the limits of one's abilities. Zack saw it often enough when battling alongside Sephiroth in the Wutai War.

"Just one last thing," the darker-haired mercenary was saying. "Because this spell puts you a little too close to the Planet, you're going to be hearing some voices."

"Voices?" The General wondered aloud.

"And if you do hear the voices," Vincent continued, "just do as I say," he held a finger up in a mock schoolteacher pose.

"'Ignore them.'"

 

\-------------------------------  
... end eleven ...  
6/3/2004


	12. Chapter 12

Standard disclaimers apply.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... timeless . ageless . changeless ...  
\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... twelve

 

Sephiroth blinked at the nothingness.

/Where am I?/ He wondered to himself with slight bemusement in his voice. Turning around, he saw that he was surrounded by thick, soundless darkness. He alone appeared to be reflecting light, or, was visible. "Strange thing, this," he tried again, this time, speaking aloud, as if believing that there was somebody lurking in the darkness, waiting for him to speak the first word.

When the darkness continued, he turned to checking his equipment instead. The last he remembered, he was helping the two caped mercenaries test their developing materia by trying to calm a raging, magically induced sandstorm. The translucent orb Vincent had passed to him was still there indeed. Tapping it, he could feel the energy of the orb course through his glove, licking at his fingertips. He smiled. He would get the full picture of these materia out from Cloud if it was the last thing he had to do.

The tapping appeared to have attracted some unsavory types. Sephiroth cocked his ears and could make out the rise of voices in the background - muffled, but there. He continued standing where he was, listening on as the voices got progressively louder. Curiously, he remembered that Vincent had mentioned something like this would happen. Although the dark-haired mercenary had warned him to ignore the voices, he could not resist trying to make out what they were trying to say.

The words were very fragmented, but Sephiroth could understand a little.

/He is here,/ the voices had clamoured. There was a low growl of displeasure rippling through the air after that.

/Chase him out!/ The next voice was almost a shout, making Sephiroth wince. Again, he glanced around, but could see nobody. It was like the voices were in his head.

/You don't belong here,/ it was a female voice this time, gentle and distraught. /This is a mistake. Hurry back to where you belong!/

"Well lady, I really wish I could," Sephiroth replied, speaking aloud. He tapped again on the orb, causing the voices to rise once more in dissent, before continuing, "But I can't go back to wherever without first solving the problem I was sent to solve. Sorry for the intrusion, but if you would so kindly tell me where I can find the point of my visit here, I'm sure we can both look upon my departure with gladness."

A sudden, sharp pain sliced through his mental awareness, and he found himself on fours before he could figure out what had just happened. The voices were screaming, apparently, and now he could not make out a single word of what they were saying. Possibly they were now debating about the many different ways to stir-fry his brain.

Sephiroth had long figured out that his mental psyche had probably been shot into a subconscious realm of sorts, having been put 'very close to the Planet,' as Vincent had kindly told him just before he cast the spell. Struggling to get on his feet, he succeeded only with a stumble, noticing that the sharp pain had since subsided. Was this the terror one had to face everytime one tried to pull a difficult spell like this? Sephiroth found himself more or less able to understand why Cloud was unable to bear the strain for too long now. It would have taken a monolith to walk through this ordeal without a scratch, as it were.

/I'm sorry,/ it was the lady's voice again, and she sounded apologetic. /I promise we won't attack you again. But you have to find out where to go to by yourself. Please hurry. The Planet doesn't like it when people intrude too much upon its functions./

"I sure can understand that," Sephiroth mumbled, holding a hand to his head, now throbbing with the dull effects of a splitting headache. "Thank you, whoever you are," he was polite enough to say, and he thought he could hear a giggle in reply to that.

He started to walk, noticing that the voices were still there, but now were nothing more than a low murmur in the background. After a few steps, he figure that if he was in a mental realm, then he could probably travel a lot faster than this. He closed his eyes and concentrated on his purpose.

Instantly the darkness dissolved. A stinging sensation forced the General to snap his eyes open, and he was semi-horrified to find himself standing somewhere in the eye of a raging tornado. It was deceivingly calm and peaceful in this part of the natural disaster, Sephiroth decided, as it always were. He looked around for ways to resolve the issue, finding his eyes finally resting upon a luminous ball of light floating about in the dead centre of the twister.

/That must be the residue of the energy spell Ipsen was talking about,/ the man thought to himself as he looked around for something to dispel the energy.

He was properly startled, therefore, when the ball of light began to talk.

"Hello," it was a rich, deep, echoing voice, void of emotions. "Sephiroth."

The General stared.

"I have spoken with Professor Hojo," the ball of light continued, and it glowed a little brightly, as if trying to gesture but failing for the lack of possession of proper appendages. "He has a very high opinion of you."

"I'm not sure if I should take that as a compliment or not," Sephiroth replied. "Since you seem rather intelligent, I assume you know the purpose of my coming."

"Ah yes," the light twinkled - possibly its action for nodding. "You wish to curb the storm. You amuse me. How do you propose on doing that?"

The long-haired General took a sweeping glance around the area they were in. Nothing short of a few rocks and stones could possibly make do as a last-minute weapon. He resisted the urge to strangle the ball of light and its sharp perception. "Well," he grumbled, "I could try to kick you. I just don't get what you're doing this for. What's so fun about summoning sandstorms in the middle of nowhere?"

The ball of light made a sound akin to snorting. "I refuse follow Avon back to that inferal laboratory!" It snarled. "I may not have a very convenient physical form, but I'm not a guinea pig either! I'm intelligent and powerful enough to rule this world. I just need to acquire the two ultimate materia of your time, and everybody will bow before my power!" Sneaking what Sephiroth assumed must have been a sly look at him, the light continued, "If you help me, you can become the General of the world. How about it? Nobody can say no to power. Hojo certainly didn't..."

If it was even possible, Sephiroth let out a hoot of amused laughter. He waved his hand in front of his face and shook his head, saying, "Been there, done that." Donning a more serious countenance, he added, "I think you underestimate humans - a kind of which I assure you Hojo is certainly /not/ part of," he laughed again. "Between following a total stranger like you on your pointless exploits of world domination and returning to my friends who rely on and trust me to solve the problem at hand, I fear the decision is very obvious." A long, deadly sword steadily materialized in his hands, and he held it up in his usual pose. "Well what do you know - it worked." He smiled palely, narrowing his eyes at the thing before him.

"Game over, ball of wayward energy."

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

When the translucent orb first glowed in Sephiroth's armour, his eyes were shut in deep concentration. A short while more and the air outside stilled suddenly. Although the sand continued to rage, there was no longer any sound of a tossing gale. Zack glanced briefly at Vincent, wondering what to make out of all of this, and was rather pleased to see a hint of admiration visible on Vincent's facade.

"Interesting," Vincent was mumbling, "his psyche was more stable before that incident than I thought..."

"'That incident?'" Zack frowned at Vincent, who pointedly chose to ignore him. Confused, Zack would have pursued the issue had he not spotted another orb on Sephiroth's armour glow with ripples of shimmering light. Taken aback, he pointed. "Hey Colin guy! What's up with that?!"

The raven-haired mercenary had already noticed the orb glowing, it seemed, and was in silent ponderation. "He's casting a spell - another spell." He concluded, turning his eyes on the SOLDIER.

"What?" Zack exclaimed. "Why?"

Vincent merely shrugged. "I think you may fare better if you asked him yourself," he gestured, and Zack noticed that Sephiroth's eyelids were beginning to flutter, an indication that he was about to break free from the initial spell.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

The ball of light had moved, and as it did, so did the eye of the tornado. Sephiroth barely had a moment to make a swipe at the light before realizing that the circumference of the sandstorm had come a little too close for comfort. The distraction had caused the ball of light to lose it's concentration, though, and the winds no longer raged. Carefully repositioning himself, Sephiroth smirked at his opponent. "Not a very convenient physical form you have there, indeed."

The ball of light laughed. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." There was a snarl in its tone. "What would Avon say if you damaged me beyond repair?"

"Perhaps he will thank me and give me his daughter's hand in marriage, as well as half his kingdom," Sephiroth cocked an eyebrow coolly. "I do think he would be more than happy to be rid of you, so that we can continue our journey proper."

There was a chuckling sound. "You misunderstand," the luminary pointed out. "I am not just a residue force; wayward energy as you put it, of this Sphere you are looking for."

"Oh?"

"I /am/ the Energy Sphere." There was apparently flourish in its tone. "Without my energy, the Indicator is useless, and Avon will be unable to return to his time."

The thing's words took a while to sink in. "'Return to...'" Sephiroth found himself repeating dumbly. He put a finger to his chin. "... 'his time?'"

Ignoring Sephiroth's little action, the ball of light burbled on, "And you cannot hope to touch me with your sword anyway! You are just a mental image that this planet has projected via that accursed materia. And I have no mental weaknesses like you humans. I just have to move slightly and your psyche will be torn apart by the tornado! Nothing you do will succeed!"

Sephiroth was still in a thinking pose, but another orb in his armour had begun to glow. "You're pretty noisy for a blob of light," he remarked nonchalantly, when he finally glanced up. "Of course I won't be able to tear you up nicely with just my will alone, but I'm sure I can get something else to do it."

A darkness surrounded the ball of light, and before it could even flicker, the vortex devoured it whole, possibly teleporting it to another location on the planet, courtesy of the Exit materia. And along with the Energy Sphere, went the raging storm. Smiling at his work, Sephiroth closed his eyes and concentrated on getting out of the Planet's mental stream and back into reality. The Planet only knew what would happen to him if he overstayed his welcome.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

The materia stopped glowing about the same time the sandstorm came to a halting pause, and Zack gaped. "The storm's gone," he stated, noticing that Sephiroth had fully opened his eyes now, although they were still glazed with a faraway look.

"Impressive," Vincent agreed. Sometime during the few minutes that had passed, Cloud had gotten back on his feet and was looking on with a hand on his head - evidently still nursing the backlash of the spell. He looked on with what Zack decided was concern, and that was easily how everybody felt at that moment.

Finally, Sephiroth blinked once and bowed his head to observe the ground carefully. "Interesting..." he murmured. "The materia translated my will to the Planet, which then projected my physical form to the root of the problem..." He looked up suddenly and turned around to take in the trio who were staring at him as if he had suddenly grown three heads. "How long has it been since the spell started?"

"Barely a couple of minutes, I think," Zack tapped at his right temple. "But you know my internal clock can't be trusted. It was really short, though."

"Hmm..." Sephiroth then made a non-commital sound and returned to pondering what had just happened, deeply interested. "Interesting..." he muttered again, earning him an incredulous look from Zack. "Very interesting..."

"Well, the storm has stopped," Vincent gestured outside, "and the Fort people will be noticing this soon. We had better make a move before they discover us."

"That's right," Zack agreed, already making his way out. "I'll go on ahead, you guys can stay and discuss the deep, intellectual things you are so fond of discussing!" He made a mad wave and grinned, disappearing outside the Fort with loud pounding of boots.

"Indeed, there will be much to discuss," looking sideways at the two mercenaries behind him, Sephiroth's mouth quirked into a cryptic smile. "Especially when you seem to come from a 'time' with the most interesting things."

With that, he stalked out of the Fort, leaving Cloud and Vincent to exchange a knowing, concerned glance between themselves.

 

\-------------------------------  
... end twelve ...  
10/3/2004


	13. Chapter 13

Standard disclaimers apply.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... timeless . ageless . changeless ...  
\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... thirteen

 

Cloud stopped dead in his tracks.

"/WHAT/??!"

Everybody else, who had inadvertably travelled ahead of him in his pause, turned around and stared at the bewildered mercenary.

"I trussed the Sphere up a little, then sent it into oblivion with an Exit spell," Sephiroth calmly repeated what he had just said.

"I know what you did!" Cloud swiped impatiently at the air with a gloved hand, shaking his head for good measure. "Why?"

"Because it seemed like the only logical thing to do to stop the storm?" The silver-haired General was far too amused by Cloud's outburst to keep a straight face anymore. That smile on his face probably stretched from ear to ear.

"I must express the same sentiments as Lord Avon has," Vincent muttered dully from where he stood. "Our ultimate purpose is the Energy Sphere, after all, and you have ruined what must have been an excellent chance for us to retrieve it."

Sephiroth shrugged. "Your goal is to be able to gather both the Sphere and the Indicator so that you can use it to travel back to your period of time." He paused slightly, and could feel the apprehension and curiosity in the air thickening, before continuing, "Just getting the Sphere alone won't be of help. That thing talks entirely too much for a ball of light, anyway."

Zack in particular, was gaping, opening his mouth to want to say something but closing it again to reconsider his words. This he repeated many times, like a struggling fish out of water, until finally he asked bluntly, "Travel back to his time period? Whaa?"

Cloud had a hand on his hood, and his lips were pursed tightly into a grim line, indicating his hesitation. It was not hard to see why, for everybody had their eyes on him in expectation, as if his answer would make or break the situation. He ruffled his hood in a manner one would have used to ruffle hair, and for a brief moment Sephiroth thought he was going to drop the hood and veil entirely. The moment passed, though, and Cloud dropped his hands to his side with a sigh, making everybody attentive.

"We didn't mean to keep it from the both of you," he began, slowly, head turned to a side. "It's just that, it would be much easier to work together without having you doubt our credibility all the time. You'll admit that if we had told you the truth during our first meeting, that none of us would be on amiable terms at all after that, wouldn't you?"

The General thought for a moment or two, then nodded in agreement. He chuckled, "I would have made sure you both were thrown into prison, and then tossed the key away for good measure."

"My point exactly," Cloud grumbled, coughing into his fist for attention again. Somewhere in the middle of the conversation, the trio had resumed their walking towards the general direction of Junon. "No matter what, this doesn't change our agenda for our trip. You need to get to Junon, and we need to retrieve our goods. After that, we'll be on our own."

"Woah!!" Zack's excited voice quickly cut into the fray. He practically ran his way towards the head of the group and turned around to face the rest, walking backwards while saying, "And I mean WOAH! Like, really?! You guys are from the future? You're not going to try to even deny it or anything?" Eyeing Sephiroth from the corner of his eyes, he asked his superior, "And you're not even going to question it, Sephiroth?"

In response, Sephiroth sighed with a slight shake of his head. "Does the SOLDIER course /never/ touch on being observant at all?" When Zack shook his head cheerfully to that, Sephiroth groaned inwardly. "First of all, how do you suppose our friends here knew whether the Junon canon was mounted or not?"

"Like I said, wild guess!" Zack laughed. "But yeah, he said it without hesitation. He really did think it was mounted. That seemed kindda strange - even to me."

"It's not mounted?" Cloud's soft voice inquired. He then turned to look at Vincent, who shrugged.

"It's not," Sephiroth confirmed.

"Oh," Cloud dumbly made a sound. "But... but it was when we..." He turned from side to side, as if to try to remember something, eventually giving up. "... Nevermind."

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow at Cloud. It was beginning to occur to him that whatever Cloud thought was insubstantial would eventually turn out to be crucial. Nevertheless he continued, hoping that the chatty atmosphere may at least get the occasionally moody mercenary to open up. "Then there was the issue of the sophistication of their equipment. Further to that, their sophisticated spells. Then, their awkward knowledge of the terrain - for example, comparing the route to Kalm and the exploration of the Mythril Mines..."

There was a snap of fingers and Zack looked up from his previous pondering pose. "I thought the way they handled their travelling was strange, too. They knew all the major geographical locations in the world, but admitted that they did not know it well. But when going through unchanged territory like the Mines, they excelled. Not forgetting the mention of the Chocobo Ranch..."

"Ultimately, of course," Sephiroth caught on from where Zack left off, allowing the porcupine head to continue his brain teasing, "it was the Sphere who revealed the truth. Rather unwittingly, too - and if there's anything you can trust, it's an enemy's unwitting admission."

By now, Zack had a funny grin plastered on his face. He grabbed the unsuspecting Cloud's hand and shook it. "Ipsen, my friend! You /are/ from the future! This is far too fantastic for me to believe, but I'll throw all logic out of the window and go with the flow for now!" He slung a heavy arm over Cloud's shoulders, causing the shorter person to stumble in his step slightly. "Come on now, tell us already. What's the future world like? Hm? You see any of my relatives running around? With nice, black hair and lovely green, Ancient-type eyes?" There was an unspeakable delight in Zack's voice as he rambled on and on about his perceived children. Cloud, on the other hand, squirmed with every new word and eventually found himself tossing Zack's hand off his shoulders.

"I'm sorry, Zack," he mumbled, barely loud enough to let the strolling winds carry it to the ears of the others. "The Ancients no longer exist where I come from."

Zack took one full moment to take in that information, then used his free but still dangling hand to slap Cloud on his back. "Of course!" He laughed heartily. "They don't even exist now! But the books always say they have the most beautiful green eyes on the Planet. Now that, my boy, is the best phrase I could use to praise the little lady I've been seeing for a while. Ain't that right, Sephiroth?" He turned around in hopes of some support from his friend.

Rolling his eyes, Sephiroth shrugged, "Don't ask me, I've only ever seen your 'little lady' once. And from a very far distance apart, if I may add. How should I know what colour her eyes were?"

"They're a shade duller than yours," Zack waved, happy to keep sharing his prized catch with his trusted comrades. "But, I tell you-"

"Okay Zack," Sephiroth stated in a firm voice, as he observed Cloud getting increasingly edgy about the topic at hand. "Spare us your sob stories. We have a mission to concentrate on at the moment."

"Aww, come on!"

"/No,/ Zack. Put that energy into walking."

The darker-haired SOLDIER threw his hands up. "Okay, okay. But seriously, Ipsen," his expressions grew as serious as his tone suggested. "What's it like in the future?"

The blond sighed. "What's it to you?" He grumbled, noticing that he had been doing that a lot lately.

"I'm just curious!" Zack immediately responded, gesturing in wide, dramatic circles. "Everybody wants to know what's going to happen in the future! We want to see if we still matter next time!" Bouncing around slightly on his feet while walking, he eventually flashed a goofy grin. "And frankly, this singular walk in the night towards the harbour is freakishly boring."

"I am beginning to think that nothing ever quells your boredom now, Zack," the SOLDIER's General remarked none-too-kindly.

"You think way too much for your age, General, sir," Zack stuck his tongue out.

"But why was the Sphere separated from Hojo?" Vincent spoke his first broody sentence from since the start of this leg of their journey.

"Well, that," Sephiroth blinked, trying to remember the conversation he had with the energy ball. "The ball of light didn't say."

"Must have had some quarrel," Cloud concluded thoughtfully.

"It did mention it was looking for the two ultimate materia of this time," the white-haired man quipped, as bits and pieces of the conversation returned to him. "Although which two materia he meant I have no idea."

"You don't?" It was Cloud again, and he seemed vaguely interested in the idea that Sephiroth did not know about the black and white materia.

Sephiroth shrugged. "None of the materia we have appears powerful enough to be able to help some random ball of light conquer the world anyway, or something like that. Although I have read books..." He paused, recalling the pages he had perused about mythical materia a long time ago. "I've never taken them too seriously. But why do you ask?" Curious green eyes turned to stare at Cloud, who flinched slightly.

"Because, ugh..." The mercenary swore inwardly, at how idiotic he must look and sound now. "... It'd be easier for us to trace the Sphere's route if we knew what it was looking for, wouldn't it?"

The General chuckled. "That made sense in a strange sort of way," he commented offhandedly, adjusting some of the materia on his armour. "By the way, I think I should return your materia... Oh, dear," the silver-haired General's dismayed voice made him frown further. He presently examined his armour with careful scrutiny, but was seemingly upset about something on the equipment that none of the other three could see.

"What is it?" Zack finally asked when it seemed like no one else was going to. "Got a chink in your armour Shinra's gonna bitch about when you get back?"

The taller man simply shot Zack a look which said 'oh, shut up!'. Then, turning his wrist armour carefully around so that it was more visible to the audience, he asked, "So tell me, which one of these orbs looks like the materia you're looking for?"

Everybody stopped walking, staring long and hard at the materia orbs decorating Sephiroth's wristband.

"Hey," Zack gave a short exclamation, pointing. "There aren't any translucent orbs."

"We can see that," Cloud agreed blandly.

"So, like," the SOLDIER 1st did not want to give up, "what does it mean?"

"Possibly the materia has managed to compound all of its known attributes into a single formula during the casting just now," Vincent helpfully offered.

"In other words, the materia has matured." Cloud explained. "It's not unstable anymore. There won't be any funny side-effects when you cast it now. Except backlash. But there's always backlash, even in normal materia." A ghost of a smile touched Cloud's lips.

"I see," Sephiroth muttered. He removed a green orb off his armour anyway and passed it to Vincent. "Unless my memory fails me, that is the orb you passed to me."

The raven-haired man caught it, took one look at it, and tossed it right back to the silver-haired SOLDIER. "It's yours now. Keep it," he stated flatly.

Sephiroth blinked. "What?" He asked, sounding a little too dumb even to himself.

"Mrm, unspoken law of equity," Cloud explained, "whoever matures the materia gets to keep it. Don't worry, we'll explain it to the mad scientist when we get back." He chuckled.

"Oh..." Slightly unconvinced, Sephiroth nevertheless kept the materia. It may come in handy some time later, after all. Finding that there was nothing else to do, he began looking upwards at the starry night skies periodically. "The night sky anywhere is more spectacular than the one at Midgar," he was surprised he said that out loud, but shrugged and continued. "In Midgar, you couldn't see a single star at night with all the smoke. And if you had especially good fortune, you'd see a glimpse of the moon. Nothing else, really."

"Stars, eh?" Zack looked up as well, smiling at nothing in particular.

There was no real explanation for the sudden synonomity between the foursome. The sky was inky-black, encrusted with myriads of glittering gems; some brighter than others, but altogether forming a long chain of breath-taking celestial lights. Their pace was slow - almost a saunter. At this speed they could take in all of the moonlight while listening to the quiet melodies of insects hiding in the undergrowth of the thick forest just to their left.

There were no signs at all that they had just conquered a roaring, stirring typhoon of sand. Each individual walked in silence after the prior discussions and were lost in their own thoughts. The peace and tranquility was almost surreal; ethereal. Companionable silence was always welcomed by the usually quiet, and thus this serenity dragged on for a reasonable amount of time while they walked.

Until.

"ARGH!!" Zack stomped a foot and grabbed at his hair. "Too... much... quietness... must... talk... NOW!"

Both Cloud and Sephiroth shot him looks of long-suffering resignation, being ultimately familiar with the entity that was Zack. Vincent, on the other hand, thought it was very amusing and snickered privately.

"I'm sure we can talk while we walk," Zack insisted, walking a little brisker to indicate his excitement. "Like for example... somebody remind me again why we're going to Junon?"

"Indicator," went Cloud.

"Sphere," was Vincent's.

"Opening ceremony?" Questioned Sephiroth, who presently wondered if there was anything between his subordinate's skull that could remember things. Then, as an afterthought, he added, "And no, we will /not/ be visiting the beaches in hopes of seeing a nude sun-tanner, SOLDIER."

Zack's response was to pout royally. "You can read my mind!"

"I certainly cannot," Sephiroth retorted. "But when you're wearing your mind on your face like that, you can be sure even a Shinra motorcycle can!"

Thus, they continued with loud, squabbling noises towards the harbour.

 

\-------------------------------  
... end thirteen ...  
10/3/2004


	14. Chapter 14

Standard disclaimers apply.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... timeless . ageless . changeless ...  
\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... fourteen

 

Junon was bustling with activity when they stepped in. And that was saying something, since the street they first had to traverse was the usually lonely, cobbled Junon lane where the poorer citizens stayed. Now, lined up by the sides of the streets were carts upon trolleys of vendors hawking their wares to the tourists who had doubtlessly flocked to the harbour to witness the unveiling of the cannon.

The vendors were shouting noisily, trying to each one raise above their neighbour in hopes of catching more customers' attentions. As the four made their way down the beaten, bushelled path, they found themselves having to invent new ways of trying to squeeze through crowded throngs of people. Eventually, they found respite in a slightly damp and dirty, but wide side-alley, which they gratefully stepped into.

"I've never," Zack shook his head, "seen a crowd so large before!!"

"That is an exaggeration, Zack," Sephiroth was quick to point out. "We have more SOLDIER candidates than that crowd out there. What you mean is that you have never seen a crowd so large and so messy before, isn't it?"

Zack's reply was an attempt to sock his superior in the jaw.

"I don't suppose you know what we should do now?" Cloud eyed the two SOLDIERs inquiringly.

"Well, we'll have to report to the President - wherever he is," the silver-haired General rolled his eyes, as if remembering a particular nasty experience of trying to find the Shinra chief executive. "Or at least, report to one of his secretaries. I'm sure Hojo will be with him, so that's one target down for us."

"Don't ask him directly about the Sphere if you see him," the blond mercenary was saying. "Just stick to the Indicator routine. Better yet, try to just sneak the Indicator out from one of his assistants. I'm sure your O-Mighty presence should be enough to sweep them off their feet, isn't it, General Sephiroth?" The shorter person quirked his lips in amusement.

"I don't know about that," Sephiroth, however, was cool about it. "But yes, I definitely do not wish to see his face if I can help it at all. That said and done, it means Zack and I will need to go into the armoury proper. What will you be doing in the meantime?"

The mercenary considered it for a while. "Pretty much everything from now on is your call until something crops up," he shrugged. "So I guess we'll hang around and enjoy the festival until then."

"Hey, no fair!" Zack immediately protested. "I wanna have some fun too!"

"You, SOLDIER can have all the fun you want /after/ we settle this mess," in a rare show of frustration, Sephiroth grabbed Zack by his ear very much like an angry mother and turned around to exit the alley. "That's settled for now then. There's an inn with a bar-lounge of sorts down in the harbour. That's the only one inn with facilities like that, so we'll make that as our rendezvous point. You'll hear from us by today." The General bowed curtly, then stalked out of the alley, melding with the masses of people outside, Zack in trail by the ear.

Left by themselves, Cloud and Vincent waited just one moment more before bursting into companiable sniggers.

"Oh, that was a sight," Cloud laughed. "The Great General Sephiroth dragging his second-in-command around by the ear. I wish I had a camera."

Even Vincent looked vaguely amused. "He was a much better man before insanity stepped in."

Cloud immediately simmered down at the mention of the event that changed his life forever, although a touch of a smile remained on his visage. "Yeah," he managed to say. "He was."

His raven-haired companion glanced once over in Cloud's way, but did not say anything.

Eventually, Cloud broke the silence that followed. "Let's get down to that harbour inn. Hey, if today's our day, they'd still have a room for us! Though it isn't very possible, considering how packed it is here." He gestured out of the alley, where people continued to stream and pour over the main roads.

Vincent nodded in agreement. "If not, we shall just have the simple task of lounging at the lounge until they come to pick us up."

His blond companion paused dramatically, turned dramatically, and pointed dramatically, while groaning dramatically. "That was so not funny, Vincent. I thought I /told/ you already you suck at jokes. /Please/ stop trying anymore."

That said and done, he swept out of the alley and into the crowd.

The raven-haired man blinked.

"But I wasn't joking."

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

Sephiroth noted with amusement that he hadn't even needed to flash his ID at the soldiers guarding the entrance into the armoury. They simply took one look at him and their jaws dropped. Quite frankly, the General was unaware that people still recognised him by sight outside Midgar, considering how long he had been stationed in the dreary city. Nevertheless he welcomed the easy entrance, and had to forcibly drag Zack away from ogling at some of the skimpy dancers in the festival parades.

"What happened to your lovely little lady in Midgar with Ancient-type green eyes?" The General asked with a slight shake of his head, when they were on the elevator that would lead them into the bowels of the armoured harbour.

"Come ON!" Zack slapped Sephiroth on his back. "I was only looking. Enjoying the view, you know? It's not like I was going to go hit on them or something..."

"From the looks of things when I went to fetch you, I'd say that you were just about to do that," Sephiroth sighed, the low drone of the elevator lingering in his ears even as the doors slid open to reveal a tunnel leading to the Shinra quarters. Deftly, the two SOLDIERs stepped out and looked around to orientate themselves slightly.

A blue-clad soldier was immediately before them. He saluted, and said stiffly, "General, sir. SOLDIER 1st, sir. Good to see you here. The President has been awaiting your arrival."

"Is Professor Hojo with him?" Sephiroth stood tall and asked in a commanding voice. He saw the short, possibly young soldier wince slightly before snapping back into attention.

"Yes, sir. They arrived together. The President has requested that his entourage follow him in the parades until told otherwise."

"They're in the parades then?" Zack blurted out, then covered his mouth when Sephiroth glared disapprovingly at him. "Just wondering!" He stuck a tongue out in defense.

"Yes, sir," the young soldier replied again, still in his salute. "The President would have wanted your company in the parade, but with no way to ascertain your exact arrival, and since the schedule of the parade cannot be changed, they have decided to simply go ahead. The cannon will be launched in two days time, and there will be parades until then. If we could be so honoured, it would be a pleasure to have you-... General, sir?" The young soldier was taken by surprise when Sephiroth simply shrugged at the last sentence and stalked down the corridors of the Junon air base wordlessly. Turning to Zack, the soldier stared at him with a helpless expression. "Sir?" He asked again.

The porcupine-head grinned and pat the soldier on his shoulder. "Don't worry about the General, it's /that day of the month/ again, you see..." he lowered his tone to a conspiratively whisper at the last part.

"I *heard* that, Zack."

"... oops."

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

Despite having overheard Zack's exchange with the soldier, Sephiroth had actually practically vanished into the maze of routes in the underground Junon armoury when Zack attempted to locate him. But finding Sephiroth was easy, Zack decided. He simply had to follow the trail of dazed fan-soldiers who either gaped and tried to say something soundlessly, or have frozen on the spot with an absolutely look of awe and wonderment.

The SOLDIER almost laughed, but kept his composure. What mindless propaganda Shinra had been feeding these young guns, he did not know, but if that was how they were all to behave after just seeing a whisk of the silver-haired General, then Shinra had a very, very low possibility of victory should another war break out.

He pushed open the large doors of - what else - the library, and was just in time to see a lock of silver hair disappear around one of the shelves. Quickly following, ignoring the death glares he was receiving from some of the people there who did not appreciate the suave clatter of his army issue boots, he rounded the same corner Sephiroth had and stared.

A partitioned room stood further down, beside the shelves. One he had never seen before in the Junon Shinra library. Hey, Zack was pretty well-read too, no matter how his appearance may have suggested otherwise! Cautiously knocking on the door, he waited for a response. When nothing happened, he decided to push it open.

The unlocked door gave way easily, swinging open in one fluid movement. This area of the library had been cordoned off as a last minute laboratory of sorts, Zack was sure, because he could see and hear the obligatory lab equipment - test tubes, bunsen burners, strange chemical, and bubbling noises. Sephiroth was engaged in conversation with a lady assistant near the back of the room, and it appeared like they were quarreling, seeing how cross the lady looked. The SOLDIER ran to where they were.

"... told you that there is no such thing here!" Was what Zack could hear the lady saying as she threw her hands up in frustration. Sephiroth immediately frowned, and would have opened his mouth to say something in rebuttal had Zack not stormed into the conversation, pulling the duo apart.

"Woah woah woah woah WOAH!!" He made sure that he had their full attentions before continuing, "Sephiroth, that's no way to treat a lady, and lady, that's no way to talk to the General!" He winked at the girl, who flushed a crimson red, but kept the unhappy scowl on her face. "And now that we're all calmed down and slightly more coherent, how about you guys tell me what in the world is going on here?"

Sephiroth snorted, folding his arms across his chest and looking away. "She claims that the Indicator is not in this laboratory."

The lady's aura burnt with anger, and she bit her lower lip. "Professor Hojo brought no such thing to Junon!" Was her assertion, as her eyes darted about herself furtively. "Now if you'll please get out of the laboratory! We are nigh busy here--What!" She took a step back with surprise when Zack shoved a piece of paper in her face.

"Calm down already," the SOLDIER's tone was serious - a rarity in itself, which even Sephiroth raised an eyebrow at. The former wagged a finger in front of his face when the lady assistant took the paper from his hands. "You're probably an important person around here, so you'd be able to recognise the good Professor's scrawl anywhere, wouldn't you? Tell me what you think of that piece of paper, please."

In the next few moments, the lady phased through a spectrum of interesting colours. As the SOLDIERs looked on with curiosity, her hands clasped the slightly crumpled piece of paper and she ventured to speak, although no sound escaped her opened mouth. "Where did you find this?" She eventually said, voice laden with displeasure. "Or maybe I should ask... /who/ forged this? How could Professor Hojo have promised anything in his delicate laboratory of engineering to military guinea pigs like yourselves is beyond me!" She snorted.

An uneasy silence settled over after her outburst.

"See here, lady," Zack's tone was dangerous as his grin was broad. "I don't really care what you /think/ about this whole matter. Neither do I care whether you recognise the good Professor's handwriting or seal on this piece of paper or not, or even if you should believe that we got this by proper channels or not. All I do care about, really, is that I left a perfectly valuable piece of asset with Hojo in Midgar, and he gave his word that he would return it to its rightful owner. In the event that he does not, then," the SOLDIER winked, "I would have to have you remind him that I had expressly stated that I'll get /my/ things back, /my/ way."

"It's technically not yours per se, SOLDIER," Sephiroth, never too slow to join in the fun of teasing some stuffy bureaucrat or another, pointed out.

"Of course, sir!" The darker-haired subordinate saluted smartly, still grinning. "Your call now, sir!"

Sephiroth almost laughed. "That suits me just fine," he settled for a satisfied smirk and proceeded to turn to the tables behind him. "Now, where shall we start looking for it?" The Masamune was already outstretched and fumbling about a few test tubes boiling with some dangerous looking liquids as he spoke. "I don't suppose it's very possible for something as big as that to be hiding behind some test tubes, but we can never be too sure..." He gently pushed at the test tube racks, and slowly, but surely, they tilted over.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Screeched the distraught assistant, who leapt forward in a great demonstration of flexibility, rescuing the tubes and their contents before they spattered over the ground. "These are highly destructive formulas that can melt mythril!" She carefully placed the rack back on the table and glared shakily at the SOLDIERs. "All right! All right already! I don't know what's so fascinating about that piece of junk that the Professor and you SOLDIERs are so interested in, but it's in the second drawer on the shelve over there!"

Following her angry point, Zack easily found the drawer, not surprised to also find that it was locked. A good tussle and the drawer wrenched free, and Zack located the Indicator without much difficulty. He held it high above his head, brandishing it about like a prize and grinning happily. "Thanks, lady! Remind me to treat you to a romantic dinner as gratitude sometimes!"

The assistant only turned redder, whilst Sephiroth rolled his eyes and turned towards the exit, joined quickly by Zack. The darker-haired SOLDIER whipped around at the doorway to wink goodbye to the lady assistant, and before anybody knew, the duo had slipped quietly out.

Every other assistant who had paused in their work to witness the scene blinked.

"I didn't just dream that the General Sephiroth walked in here and made a scene, did I?" A young boy turned around to ask the older person beside him.

"I was hoping you could tell me the same thing," his senior shrugged.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

And meanwhile, at the harbour inn...

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

"No rooms?"

"Absolutely none, gentlemen."

"Not even a single one?"

"No, sir."

"..."

"How about, like, half a room?"

"I'm sorry, we absolutely do not rent rooms out by halves."

"Oh."

"Will there be anything else?"

"..."

"Wait! What about the toilet?"

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

... Cloud and Vincent were having a great time flexing their unbelievably bad interrogative skills.

 

\-------------------------------  
... end fourteen ...  
12/4/2004


	15. Chapter 15

Standard disclaimers apply.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... timeless . ageless . changeless ...  
\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... fifteen

 

Zack stared at the Indicator.

And.

The Indicator stared back.

"ARGH!!" The SOLDIER screeched in agony. "Sephiroth!" He howled. "What am I supposed to /do/ with this thing?"

The annoyed General stopped walking abruptly and turned around with a chastising look on his face. "Zack. I remember just telling you to hold on to it. /Hold/ it. Firmly. In your hands. Make sure it doesn't drop, isn't stolen, and doesn't somehow end up somewhere else but in your possession, all the way until we reach the inn. Is /that/ clear enough for your short brain processes?"

The response was an equally frustrated groan from Zack. "Dammit Sephiroth, you /know/ that's not what I meant!" All the time he hollered, ignoring the looks of varied interest from the passers-by also taking the same path along the Junon harbour street, Zack jabbed at the screen of the Indicator, which reacted by making a series of unhappy sounding beeps. The slightly soft screen gave a ripple of protest at the manhandle, and the static travelling between the Indicator's two small side antennas crackled with displeasure.

Sephiroth again sighed in dismayal. "Please don't tell me you were trying to use the Indicator to do something."

The broad, sunny, positive grin on his companion's face made him walk up next to the man, swipe the futuristic machine away from him, and quickly turn his heels to return to walking down the streets again.

"Hey!" Zack was immediately onto him. "You said you'd let me handle it!"

"Not when you're handling it like that I'm not," his superior scoffed, pointing at the machine and continuing, "I don't think it was easy for Hojo to actually repair something like this successfully, although the Sphere likely had a hand in it, but we're /not/ destroying it again so quickly after we just got it back fixed. We'll let Ipsen show us just what brand of magic this thing can conjure when we see him."

The last sentence was stated with absolute firmness, something even Zack could not miss, which he didn't. Throwing his hands up in a show of resignation, the SOLDIER resumed simply marching beside his superior, casting longing glances out at the vast watery deep they were strolling along.

A stroke of inspiration hit the man, as he turned to stare expectantly at Sephiroth, brimming with the aura of a child trying to get his father to buy him a new toy. Sephiroth took one look at him, thoroughly regretted doing it, put his face into his hand and shook his head.

"All right, Zack, ALL RIGHT. But only /after/ we meet up with Ipsen. Okay?"

"Yaay!" Zack cheered, and began bouncing down the streets. "Beaches! Beaches! Sun, sand and sea! Come on, Sephiroth, Ipsen's a-waiting!" Were the last words of the SOLDIER before he dashed down the path, turned the corner, and vanished without a trace.

Sephiroth stood rooted to the spot, blinking at the cloud of smoke that had formed. "Zack! You're so going to be transferred to the Navy!!" He yelled, and came close to waving his fist. The people who were walking along the same street all jerked to a stop to stare at him strangely. Unfazed, the General eyed them back, daring them to say anything, then continued his way towards the rendezvous point, noticing that people now took great pains to walk a large circle around him.

He really hadn't thought he had sounded /that/ loud.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

It was, therefore, in a bad mood that Sephiroth stormed into the harbour-inn lounge, eyes quickly scanning the dark, humid area for familiar faces.

He located Zack rather easily. Despite being dark-haired and fairly tanned, the SOLDIER 1st was among the easiest things to spot in dark, dingy bars, as Sephiroth had found out the exciting way when sent to retrieve a wayward subordinate or two after curfew hours. He just had to simply follow the line of attention, which was exactly what he had done before he chanced upon Zack chatting up a large group of attentive, beautiful - /bikini-clad/ ladies, hanging upon his every word with adoration.

When had Junon relegated into another Costa Del Sol? Oh, right, the festival. Shinra sure knows how to pull them, Sephiroth pondered unhappily to himself as he slowly made his way over to the table Zack was seated in, trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible. There was to be no such thing, however, for his subordinate noticed him quickly and waved for him to join his table. Some girls turned to look at him, and absolutely swooned. Others became sly and tried to bait him with their husky voices. He cringed at their suggestive words and fought his way through to where Zack was comfortably seated.

When finally at his destination, the General glared at Zack. "Zack. Where are they?"

The SOLDIER waved nonchalantly. "Chill out, General. And I haven't seen any sign of them yet. Neither have these ladies here, have you, ladies?"

A chorus of negative responses filled the air, accompanied by a few snide giggles.

Very bothered by the calculative glances that were being thrown in his direction, Sephiroth stiffened and turned to leave. Knowing his superior fairly well, Zack was secretly glad that the General had not chosen to make a scene and drag him out by the ear again, so he quietly let the man return to being an antisocial snob, promising to do something about it on some other day.

The girls, however, being not as familiar with the silver-haired man as Zack was, were not about to let the matter rest.

"Hey there, sweetie," a brave brunette smoothly pulled Sephiroth back into the centre of attraction, swaying about him like a snake. "A friend of Zack here, aren't you?" She leaned forward and attempted to invade upon the General's personal space, which he quickly and quietly declined by removing himself from her immediate presence. Stumbling forward due of the loss of balance, the girl pouted prettily and complained, "What? You think you're too good for me?"

"Oh come on now ladies," Zack, thankfully, came to Sephiroth's rescue. "Leave the good man alone." The SOLDIER ducked slightly when his superior turned to glare threateningly at him. Zack /knew/ that glare. He was going to be on toilet duty for the rest of his life if he didn't get Sephiroth out of this fix.

"You said yourself he's a good man," a sulty redhead sauntered up to the stiff General, who tried to stop her with a trained glower, but military glares were obviously useless against libido-driven women. "Which good man can resist the company of a few good women? Come on, sweetheart, we won't bite. Just a little drink with us and you won't want to leave..." Her hand was that close to cupping the silver-haired General's cheek when he lifted a gloved hand to intercept it.

"A good woman," Sephiroth monotoned, "takes a hint when she sees it. And you, all of you," he pushed the lady's hand away gently while taking a long stride backwards, "are most certainly not good women. Now if you'll /please/ excuse me, I have better things to do." Without waiting for a response, although he did throw a sharp, murderous look in Zack's general direction, Sephiroth quickly vanished into the darkness of the bar, amidst loud protests and squeals from the disappointed women, who would undoubtedly vent their anger on Zack. Well, thought Sephiroth with a mirthless smirk, it served the man just right.

Vanishing right into the far end of the lounge, where the bartender was, Sephiroth sat himself down on one of the stools and sighed. He could see from the corner of his eyes that Zack was now trying to reassure the women and fix their broken pride, coming up with excuses for him - not that he should have bothered, since Sephiroth most certainly did /not/ want to lead anybody on. His second sigh attracted some sympathetic attention, as the bartender looked at him with a quirked, bushy eyebrow.

"Women blues?" His gruff voice questioned.

"Oh, for goodness sake," Sephiroth grunted. "Can nobody leave me alone for two minutes?"

"Hey, you're too much an attention-grabber with your hair and face Mister," the bartender chortled, "I thought ya'd be used to such advances by now. Don't get out much, do you?"

"I've got a curfew tighter than the cork on your vintage champagne, sir," Sephiroth offered blandly. The tender laughed, then gestured to the menu, silently asking Sephiroth for his order. "A glass of juice, if you so please," the General waved nonchalantly.

From beside him, there was a soft snigger. "Sucks to be you," the stranger who had spoken was leaning carefully on his palm and looking at his cocktail mix with veiled interest.

Watching the stranger carefully, for who knew what kind of brutes lurked in alcohol superclubs like these, the General was surprised to find himself staring at the face of a boyish SOLDIER. He had concluded that part of the person's identity by considering the lucent blue eyes which were currently looking at him in amusement. The boy looked young - too young to be in SOLDIER, in fact; but behind the eyes, he could spot a flick of maturity that could only have come with extreme age or dire experience. Those same eyes he had been evaluating blinked and turned away, as the boy downed the rest of his drink in one gulp, setting the empty glass upon the counter with a loud noise.

Now, Sephiroth had zero know about alcoholic beverages, but he was pretty damned sure that cocktail - especially cocktail in dark and shady bars like these, would contain a considerable amount of alcohol. It was probably in the best interest of his men and the reputation of his army, therefore, that he had to ask the next question: "Are you sure you're legal?"

The boy blinked and the bartender stopped mixing the juice. And they both spoke at the same time.

"What in the world was that supposed to mean-"

"You know Mister, I was just thinking the same thing mahself-"

Their sentences tangled into a massive, jumbled heap which Sephiroth admitted he had no ability to decipher, therefore making his stare of bewilderment at the duo perfectly justifiable. Just a few words later, though, the stranger and the tender turned to look at themselves in mutual confusion, then burst out laughing.

Sephiroth rolled his eyes. "I fail to see what is so funny."

Still laughing, the stranger pushed his empty glass away and gave Sephiroth a soft smile. "You've never been known to have a great sense of humour, Sephiroth." Following the daring proclamation, the stranger took some time to brush a few streaks of ruly blond spikes out of his eyes. "One more cocktail, please," he gestured to the bartender, who was just placing Sephiroth's order on the table. He nodded and turned to mixing the drink.

The General, however, had not noticed the exchange. His brain cells stopped functioning when he heard the SOLDIER address him by name, with no titles or honoraries attached. Too busy trying to come up with a reason for the discrepancy, he failed to notice that he had been staring - with intense scrutiny, no less - at the blond, who presently eyed his second cocktail; just arrived, possibly wondering if he should down it now or sip it carefully for the taste.

Sephiroth's staring, of course, became of prime concern to him when he noticed.

"Is there something wrong?" The blond frowned and met Sephiroth's eyes, wondering what was going on behind the impassive mask of the General. Then, in a slightly more offended voice, he chipped, "I'm legal, dammit. I'm much, much more legal than you are, as you probably already know?"

Sephiroth's brain did an emergency shutdown. Having no idea what to make of this blond SOLDIER before him, the General asked in what he hoped was an impeccably commanding voice, "Whose squadron are you in, SOLDIER?"

For a split second, the blond paused and blinked at Sephiroth with yet another 'what-the-heck-was-that?!' look on his face. "I'm not from SOLDIER," he was saying. "I thought I told you that before-... oh. Oh." There was a note of dead surprise in the last 'oh,' as if the stranger struck upon a revelation he had not known previously. He put a hand to his mouth and gave Sephiroth an apologetic look. "Sorry."

The General tilted his head. "What?"

The blond waved, stood up and turned around to face the wall, gathering a mess of familiar looking brown cloth from the seat beside him and wearing it upon his shoulders quickly. After some adjustments, he lifted the displaced hood on the cloak up and threw it over his head, along with the obligatory veil, then spun back to face the world again and smiled almost mischieviously at the General.

Who gaped.

Because when the stranger had turned around, suddenly, the stranger wasn't so strange anymore.

The awkward silence was only broken with Sephiroth's distraught, "Ipsen."

"Who else did you think I was?" Cloud had to bite his lower lip to prevent himself from laughing out loud. He had most certainly not been playing a trick on the General. He had just forgotten that he had taken the cloak off. It appeared like Sephiroth had assumed that he was a SOLDIER - not that Cloud blamed him, and had spoken to him in that way. That would explain why Sephiroth had been giving off uncomfortable vibes throughout the conversation. It wasn't everyday a supposed subordinate spoke to you like an equal, after all.

"You..." the eloquent man was for the first time in a long while at a loss of what to say. "You..." Finding that he was simply repeating himself, the General made a strangled sound of despair and picked up his drink, finishing it in one gulp. "You have mako eyes." He finally stated by way of a word truce. Those words were most certainly not what he had originally intended to say, but he decided that it would have to do for now. "Why?"

Cloud settled back onto the stool and shrugged. "I'm not a SOLDIER." He repeated.

"So you keep saying," Sephiroth could feel his brain slowly churning back into activity. "Nevermind that. Well now, Mr. Secretive. I never thought I'd live to see the day you would actually take that hood and veil off willingly and look at me in the eye. To what do I owe this honour?" His sarcasm was back in full force, which indicated that his brain had gotten over the shock and was now ready for action.

Usually, as Sephiroth had observed during his journeys with the future people, Cloud would simply let the sarcasm slide off his back with a shrug or a look away. This time, however, the mercenary jumped slightly and regarded Sephiroth more warily than before. "It was getting hot," the blond said, "so I took it off for a while."

"So you mean it's gotten cooler?" Sephiroth asked, amused. If his senses were not off, it was still pretty hot in the bar - too hot for someone to be donning a full length cloak and hood.

"No..." Evidently, Cloud felt the same way, because he sounded annoyed and shifted about in his seat edgily. "But it was a mistake to have taken it off in the first place." Cloud sighed. He hoped that he had not given his past self - the shy teenager from Nibelheim, a whole new slew of problems by letting Sephiroth see his face way before he should have. "So please, forget what you ever saw, okay?"

Sephiroth snorted derisively. "I would gladly, my dear Ipsen, but I'm afraid that it is impossible," he paused, noticing that Cloud was looking at him with what must have been horror. A short laugh later, he continued, "I cannot forget something that I cannot remember."

"That's a relie... wait a minute," Cloud's head had snapped up to look in Sephiroth's general direction. "You're kidding me, right?"

"And what makes you think that I was?" Sephiroth retorted.

"Because..." Cloud was still stunned. "... Because the General Sephiroth just does not... /cannot remember/ things."

The General's expression remained neutral, although he grumbled, "Whoever's been spreading that rumour around should be shot and roasted over an open fire while everybody warms and toasts marshmellows over it."

"I'm not sure if that's a good idea," Cloud was quick to point out. "President Shinra doesn't exactly have quality fat in him."

"Stop trying to change the subject, Ipsen," Sephiroth grunted unhappily. "I really don't understand your obsession with secrecy. You make it seem like showing your face is a crime. /Why/ is it so bad for you to show your face around here?"

The mercenary immediately opened his mouth to reply, but was stopped short by the voice of a new presence.

"Lord Ipsen," Vincent sounded disturbed, and he very much should be, because, "Hojo, I believe, has spotted and recognised me."

The silence tingled.

Still with his mouth opened, Cloud turned to Sephiroth.

"That, my good man, is why."

 

\-------------------------------  
... end fifteen ...  
20/4/2004


	16. Chapter 16

Standard disclaimers apply.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... timeless . ageless . changeless ...  
\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... sixteen

 

"What do you mean, you're going to Nibelheim, Professor?" President Shinra's voice had a sharp, scolding tone to it.

"I meant exactly what the sentence meant, sir," Hojo arched an eyebrow. "Surely someone of your intelligence should have no problems deciphering those words"

It was in fair weather, the middle of the day, that the entourage was taking a small break from the parade, when Professor Hojo made his request known to Shinra. He needed to set off immediately for Nibelheim to 'check up on some of his more delicate experiments.'

"I will not approve it," Shinra's voice was suppressed, but evidently angry. "Until you at least finish what you have to do in Junon."

"And I, for my part," Hojo shrugged, "am not obliged to listen to you, especially when matters of more importance have cropped up. I believe that was how our agreement was sealed, President Shinra?"

"Hojo..." Shinra snarled, hands clutching the edges of the armchair he was seated in so tightly his knuckles were slowly whitening. "Is this insubordination I'm hearing? Coming from the Professor himself?"

"I wouldn't dare, Mr. President," Hojo shook his head, then pushed his glasses slightly upwards. "But I see no purpose in my staying any more than I see any purpose in a broken test tube on my laboratory table. It would be best that I remove myself from your presence before I cause any trouble for you, sir."

Without waiting for a reply, Hojo swept out of the little office without so much as a second glance back.

"How dare he!" Shinra clenched a fist and slammed it upon the table before him. Immediately, the dark, long-haired Turk beside him snapped into attention.

"Shall I teach him a lesson for you, Mr. Shinra?" Tseng asked smoothly, as if he was asking the President if he would like to have his nails filed. The blond tyrant waved his hand negatively and turned to his cigar box instead.

After a few mind-numbing puffs, he relaxed into the chair and appeared to be in deep thought.

"Find Sephiroth," the President commanded, after a contemplative moment. "I've received reports that he's finally in Junon. Summon him to take the Professor's place. We need to maintain the image that Shinra is united no matter what. Today is an important day. Go." He waved, and the Turk bowed before exiting the room elegantly, leaving the President alone in the room with nothing but his thoughts.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

In the meantime, in another part of Junon, there were also some other people well occupied with /their/ thoughts.

After exiting from the bar, Cloud had sidled into an unused side alley, sitting down on one of the abandoned wooden crates stacked there and brooding quietly by himself. Vincent hovered somewhere nearby, but made sure he was well out of the reach of any of Cloud's random swords. The blond, despite his sometimes quiet disposition, was one of the strangest man the ex-Turk had ever had the chance of making an acquaintance with. Not just that - his temper was as volatile as his namesake, and nobody knew when he would suddenly jump onto his feet, whip his sword out and start chasing people down the streets with howls. No one knew, indeed, and therefore, Vincent decided, it was always better to be safe, than sorry.

Vincent's inner turmoil and warnings, of course, proved to be of no effect upon his two other companions.

"Wow, would you look at that," Zack pointed and almost giggled. "Hojo's name is so evil, it even scares the future people, how about that?" He snickered, privately amused. Beside him, Sephiroth folded his arms across his chest and closed his eyes in thought.

"Aren't the both of you supposed to be from the really far future?" Sephiroth eventually asked, when it seemed like he had done enough thinking. "How come you seem to know that man Hojo personally?"

Deathly, hushed silence.

"If you really want us to be of any help at all," Sephiroth pointed out, when the silence stretched for a little too long than he would like it to, "you might at least want to tell us how far in the future you are."

There was a bout of what Sephiroth thought was the silence continued, until the whispers of wind brought the soft tones of Cloud's voice into his ears. "What?" He frowned. Cloud had indeed spoken, but he had not caught the words. And here they were talking about something that he deemed was highly important. "What did you say?"

The blond mercenary's head snapped up, like he was annoyed that Sephiroth had not caught what he said. "I don't remember." He muttered, only slightly louder this time. His head turned to look in another direction thereafter. "I've lost count after the first thousand..." He glanced away. "It doesn't matter anyway. We've been cursed. All of us. Cursed by that monster Hojo to live a long life, worse than death. To see all those around us fall away and vanish into nothingness while we carry on with heavy memories of the past..." The blond sighed, and stood up, starting to pace about slowly.

"We were experiment subjects of Hojo." He stated, ignoring the looks of plain surprise in both SOLDIER's faces. "We came from your generation; meaning - this generation," he paused to observe his audience slightly, then continued, "which is why we have come in contact with Hojo before. But the various bouts of vicious experiments Hojo performed on us has stripped us entirely of our mortality. It seems like an impossible combination of Mako and alien cells virtually halted the aging of the physical body - in other words - giving us an immortal soul..."

"Well what's so bad about that?" Zack's teasing but wondering voice cut into Cloud's monologue. "/I/ wouldn't mind having eternal life! Lots more things to enjoy!" He grinned.

"I never said I had anything against eternal life," Cloud shrugged, a slight smile tugging at his lips nevertheless at Zack's typical, predictable response. "But an eternal life of suffering - now that's something I would gladly exchange for for a short life of happiness."

"When the Mako and the alien cells within you start to fight," Vincent added in to the conversation from where he stood in the shadows. "You'd wish you were better off dead. But because of the rapid rate in which the cells heal, the pain that is felt is mostly internal and unwitnessed. The both of you, as SOLDIERs, should know better than anyone what that means."

"Having to deal with a cycle of physical pain that puts you to death and then brings you to life... having to see people you care about disappear from your life forever..." Cloud shook his head. "Would /you/ have something against the man who caused your life to be so bitter for thousand of years?"

A deep understanding swelled through the atmosphere, and Zack blinked in surprise. He scratched his hair sheepishly. "Sorry. I really didn't mean to be so insensitive."

"Without a doubt, Hojo's suspicion will have been raised." Vincent piped before anymore silences occurred. "And knowing him rather well, he must be headed for Nibelheim now to make a verification, since that was where I was kept imprisoned. If he should even come close to deducing that we come from the future, there will be chaos to reign. Lord Avon is probably upset that he now has to readjust his plans to include intercepting Hojo before he arrives at Nibelheim."

"Although I wonder what his plans were like before having to readjust them," Sephiroth spoke out in an amused tone, "since we are partly responsible for this mess, why don't you-"

It was like a sudden rush of cold air hit all four Mako-enhanced warriors at once. Their heightened abilities picked up the intrusion of an unwelcomed presence, and Cloud and Vincent immediately vanished magically, without a single indication that they had ever been there before.

A few tensed seconds later, Tseng stepped into the side alley and adjusted his tie. He coughed into his fist and straightened, saying, "General Sephiroth. The President requires your immediate presence."

The General blinked.

"He would like to cordially invite you to join his entourage in the parade float," Tseng continued, upon sensing the incredulity in Sephiroth's actions.

Silence.

"Tell me you're kidding."

"I am not, sir."

"Oh, dammit all. And stop laughing, Zack. You're coming along!!"

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

Somewhere above on an empty roof, Cloud and Vincent observed as Sephiroth and Zack made their way out of the alley and towards where the parade central presumably was. After the two SOLDIERs were far out of sight, Cloud sighed, turned around and sat down, leaning against the parapet and looking up at the slowly darkening skies.

"Why did I tell them all that for?" He wondered aloud to nobody in particular.

"You alone know the answer to that, Cloud," Vincent helpfully provided, while carefully scouring the environment for the possibility of other unwanted presences. Finding none, he returned his attention to the still self-blaming Cloud, and continued, "Stay if you must, to tie up the loose ends. I will personally ensure that our true presence is never revealed to Hojo."

At that, however, Cloud shot Vincent a lethal glare the latter could feel vividly, even with hoods and veils on. "We agreed a long time ago that we will not /choose/ to operate separately under any circumstances." He sighed. "You're the last friend I have left who I can still see and touch, Vincent," Cloud's voice was almost shakey, despite his attempts to smile, "so if you must die, please, at least let's die together? I don't think I can survive another Mako mental attack sane alone this time..."

"Don't be silly," Vincent's voice was hollow. "Nobody's going to die."

"Nothing is impossible with the Hojo-mojo," Cloud lowered his voice. "You know that too, Vincent."

Vincent silently agreed. He turned to look at his companion and asked, "So are we going to go after Hojo or stay here to see Sephiroth parade around on a lacey float?"

A pause.

"... I /thought/ I told you to stop making jokes, Vincent."

"... that wasn't supposed to be a joke..."

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

It turned out, anyway, that none of the options seemed viable. In the space of a few minutes, the Junon skies turned from sparkling blue to tantalizing black. A dark, ominous shadow hung over the entire harbour, threatening to engulf it whole, and before long, a cold, howling wind began to blow.

The palm trees, freshly planted by the roadsides, began to swing about - calmly at first, then dangerously noisy. Some were uprooted upon impact, and that was before the rain even came. People began ducking into shelters and shops, clearing the streets faster than busy bees at work. Shortly after the first gusts of wind began to blow, the streets of Junon were already entirely devoid of life and animate action.

That was when the lightning and thunder began to strike and rumble.

The first indication of the lethal rays of nature could be observed when it was yet a far distance off. Against the backdrop of musty, dark clouds, the lightning flashes had not needed to hit anything to become evident to the human eye. Coupled with the low rumble of an occasional thunder or two, it was no wonder that all on the streets immediately ran for shelter even without having to be asked.

Cloud stood up, his cloak billowing about him in the gale that was going throughout the harbour. He glanced out at the visible sea and set his lips into a grim, tight line. "This is not a normal storm." He said immediately.

Beside him, Vincent nodded.

Without warning, a bolt of lightning lashed out directly at the duo on the rooftop, and would have cleaved them both into half had there not been a barrier there all the time. Cloud glanced upwards at the charred mark the lightning made on the translucent barrier, unfazed but slightly worried. Vincent, on the other hand, was already busy setting up another barrier.

As the duo watched on from their vantage point of view, lightning proceeded to strike at the harbour. Although it never really did hit the ground, it came close enough such that if a normal human had been standing where it had struck, that human would have had lost his life in a hot, blinding white flash. The wind was now howling with full force, and the rain pattering over the tarred streets with a loud roar. Cloud and Vincent turned to look at each other with slight dismayal. This could only mean one thing.

"That stupid, selfish, schizophrenic, sad excuse for power sphere is... back." Cloud mumbled, disappointed at his lack in vocabulary. "Oh. Great. Just great."

"True," Vincent nodded. "You won't get to see Sephiroth on a lacey float anymore since the parade is most definitely not going to be able to proceed at this rate," he pointedly ignored the death-glare Cloud was giving him. "But on the other hand, this also means that no ship will be able to get out of the harbour - so no Hojo will be going to Nibelheim. That's a blessing in disguise indeed."

"I do /not/ want to see Sephiroth in anything /lacey/, for crying out loud!!" Cloud finally erupted, screeching at Vincent in that low, subdued way of his. Just as he was about to make a scene, another bolt of lightning struck at their collective barrier, and cracks began to appear. The blond was effectively silenced, and he gaped at the cracks. "... It's been a long time since anyone... or anything's managed to put a crack in /that/ barrier."

Even as he spoke, the lightning attacks grew louder, and frighteningly fiercer. Vincent's eyes darted quickly to question Cloud, waiting for his next command. "This is the Energy Sphere we're talking about here, Cloud. You probably know better than I do that no barrier on the planet at all can withstand it."

"Sad, but true," Cloud frowned. "But we're not running away, Vincent. We need to get the Sphere, or we're never going back, remember? So that's why," the gleaming large Buster Sword was already in Cloud's hands, as he walked slowly to the edge of the roof, facing a certain part of the sky that had a greater intensity of luminacy than any other part. "... That's why, we have to fight. Here and now."

"We can't do much without the Indicator," Vincent pointed out, amused but slightly hesitant about Cloud's current attitude. "Even if we tried to trap it with our strongest barrier spells, it wouldn't a few minutes against raw energy power."

"I know," Cloud glanced backwards at Vincent and almost grinned. "That's why we're going to make a scene by fighting that little idiot. I mean, how else are we going to get Sephiroth and Zack to hurry the hell up and bring the Indicator to us, right?"

Vincent blinked.

Then sighed.

"Sometimes, I wonder whether there's anything going on in that brain of yours at all."

"... hey..."

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

"What a pity, Professor," the voice of Shinra echoed from within the enclosure of the sheltered docking bay, as he slowly approached Hojo from behind, "It looks like your little vacation trip to Nibelheim has to be cancelled in lieu of the sudden, vicious torrent storm!"

The Professor turned around and afforded the President a snide glance, then turned back to the people manning the ships and queried, "Are the submarines perhaps ready for passengers-"

"I would advise you not to do that," Shinra was saying, while waving his cigar around and patting his pockets. "The meteorologists have just submitted their reports to indicate that this storm, though strange, possibly penetrates deep into the ocean floor even. Perhaps a man with /your/ intelligence should be able to understand those words? I would suggest that you read their reports carefully before choosing to set off, professor. What would Shinra Inc do if anything untoward happened to a /genius/ like you?"

"I hope you do not push too far in your mocking, President," Hojo adjusted his glasses, pat his labcoat and with his assistants brushed quickly by the fat man, who was still smirking away. "It would be dreadful if we could not calculate the location of the Promised Land because of low morale."

"Of course," Shinra laughed heartily, and had an evil tone to his voice. "Of course."

Just as Hojo exited the dock with his array of bodyguards and scientist assistants from one side, Sephiroth and Zack, together with Tseng, entered from another. The SOLDIERs saluted upon coming into the presence of the President and waited in attention for a command.

"At ease, SOLDIERs," Shinra waved his cigar nonchalantly, and both Sephiroth and Zack retracted their hands.

"You summoned for us, sir?" Sephiroth began, wanting to get over the trauma as quickly as he could. He only hoped secretly, as much as possible that the float was not... lacey or something!

"I did?" The President was saying, putting a hand to his forehead and thinking. "Ah yes. I did! But, there's nothing now. Don't worry. Get to a military bar, let loose and hang out! Hah hah!" The man laughed, turning around and walking out towards an exit, followed closely by Tseng and two pairs of incredulous SOLDIER Mako eyes. When they had all but left and when there were no one else in the bay anymore but Sephiroth and Zack, and the few dock workers scuttering around repairing ships and checking goods, the SOLDIERs turned to blink at each other.

"What the hell was that all about?" Zack could not help but ask his superior.

"If I knew the answer, Zack, I wouldn't be standing here gaping at you." The silver haired General blandly commented, sweeping the bay for any one who seemed available. "You, over there!" He commanded in a loud voice at a dock worker who was just coming down from a ship at a leisurely pace. The worker's head snapped up and he stiffened visibly at the sight of Sephiroth. He quickly scampered over to where the two SOLDIERs stood.

"Sir!" He saluted, and Sephiroth waved it off quickly.

"What happened here just now, soldier?" The General asked in a serious tone.

"Yes, sir!" The question was quickly acknowledged. "President Shina and Professor Hojo had a little conversation, sir. We could not prepare a ship for the Professor for Nibelheim because of the terrible weather, and President Shinra seemed very happy to see the Professor's plans thwarted. That was about all, sir!"

When Sephiroth nodded, the worker quickly darted away and got back to his own business. The SOLDIER 1st then shot a glance at his second-in-command and started walking out the way they had come in, Zack in tow. When they were somewhere within the labyrinth of tunnels, entrances and exits of the Junon fort, they paused and, sensing no other presence, began to talk.

"Weather problems?" Zack started first. "But the sky was clear and bright when we stepped in!"

The silver-haired General remained pensive. "Maybe we should check with the meteorology department."

"Or better still, find a window that shows what goes on outside!" Zack rebutted. "Come on! I know just where we can find one. The hangar bay corridor!"

Shrouded with an oppressive gloom known only to Shinra buildings, the duo proceeded to make their way quietly to the hangar. As they passed by the corridors which had enhanced glass panels to show what went on outside, they both abruptly stopped in mid-step. Zack's jaw loosened and dropped, whereas Sephiroth's eyes widened in evident surprise.

They stared out at a conglomeration of dark mist and grey fog, and not even a thin line of the Gelnika launchpads were visible from their position on the corridor. This was worsend by the rain that came pattering down heavily on the glass, smearing it with thousands of kaleidoscopic drops, forming streams of down flowing paths as drop after drop of water converged on the strong glass to slide down in glee.

Sephiroth was at a loss of words. Just a few minutes ago the sky had been clear and the weather, fair. A sudden rainstorm like this was abnormal, to say the least. And too much a coincidence for him to ignore. He frowned in deep thought.

"Now /that's/ what I call a cloudy squall," Zack, however, simply pressed closer to the windows and strained his eyes to try to see through the thick fog. "My goodness. I haven't seen a storm like this since the one that tore up Gongaga a couple of years ago. This has got to be bad news. ... Sephiroth?" The darker-haired SOLDIER noticed that his superior had kept conspicuously quiet all this while and decided to probe. "Don't you have anything to say about this?"

Instead of replying, Sephiroth was staring at the strange apparatus called the Indicator which he now held in his hands. In all the chaos and conversation that had occurred, the duo had not yet had the chance to hand the device over to Cloud. While Zack had been wondering how to operate it all the while, it seemed like the little machine had been on auto-mode all along. It now beeped with activity and its mini screen scrolled with rows and rows of an unknown text even Sephiroth boggled at.

One fact was apparent to the duo, however.

The constant beeping, and the constant flash of red light spelt one thing that was universal.

Danger.

"We'd better go find Ipsen," was the silver-haired man's words before they both took off down the corridor, looking for the quickest way out of the fortress.

 

\-------------------------------  
... end sixteen ...  
12/6/2004


	17. Chapter 17

Standard disclaimers apply.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... timeless . ageless . changeless ...  
\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... seventeen

 

A torrent greeted the SOLDIERs when they stood before the exit of the fortress, staring at the thick gloom that hung before them. After staring into the grey fog for a while, the duo turned to stare instead at each other.

Zack spoke up first, saying, "How in the world are we supposed to find anything in this weather?

Sephiroth shrugged after a slight pondering. "Sheer chance?" He ignored Zack's gape. "That was how we won the war anyway, in case you've forgotten."

"I dunno," Zack frowned. "There's just something about using wild chance to overlap old Shinra's undeniably incompatible commands that doesn't make it a good comparison with going against good reason in a wild windstorm to look for a couple of dudes whom we don't even know well enough to make a wild stab at their current location." The SOLDIER breathed. He then noticed that Sephiroth was staring at the device in his hands and was hardly paying any attention to him. Offended, he griped, "Hey! Listen to me! It's not everyday you get to hear me say something so serious and reasonable!"

The silver-haired General /did/ look at his fellow SOLDIER, although only for a while. He soon glanced back at the device, however, but before either could say anymore, the Indicator screen flashed a crimson red, and two parallel lines of blinking scarlet pushed towards an unknown direction into the gloom, beeping urgently for attention.

"Well," Sephiroth almost laughed. "I guess that solves our little problem of where to go."

Zack gaped first, then shrugged and chuckled. He wasn't going to complain if they could get some help. "What're we waiting for, sir? Adventure and fame awaits us!"

"I've definitely had enough of /those/ things to last me for an entire lifetime," Sephiroth scoffed as he walked into the mist, following the lead of the machine in his hands. "I think it's probably time I retired."

There was a gasp of mock shock from Zack. "No! What will all your fangirls and fanboys say?! The world will dissolve into chaos!"

"... you are /so/ asking to have an up-close and personal date with the sharp side of the Masamune, aren't you?"

"No, sir, not at all. I wouldn't mind a stab at your harem though."

A sigh of exasperation.

"Just shut up for ten minutes, Zack. Ten minutes. That's all I ask, okay?"

"Yes, sir!"

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

Cloud and Vincent hid behind a large cloud. Literally. And while Vincent was trying his best to stifle his amusement, his sniggers were starting to get on Cloud's nerves. Finally, the blond spun around and glared at his companion. "What's so funny?!" He demanded.

Vincent stared at him. Blinked. Turned away and clutched his stomach, shoulders shaking.

Exasperated but still retaining enough sense to restrain himself, Cloud just gave Vincent a warning kick, then returned to observing the scene.

Up above the dark storm clouds, where the sky was still blue and clear, the visibility was not as bad, and Cloud could clearly see where the Sphere was. He came as close as he possibly could with Vincent to the Sphere without alerting it of their presence, and currently as they stayed hidden, they wondered what their next step should be.

"Without the Indicator," Vincent stated with much difficulty, since Cloud had kicked him rather hard on the shins. "It would be better if we do not try to guess what our safety circumference is. Also, if we attack it head-on, there's a high chance that we will get pummeled into energy bits. The odds are against us until we retrieve the Indicator."

"Thank you for your evaluation," Cloud commented dryly. He glanced downwards and noticed that now tidal waves were starting to lap at the fortified stronghold of Shinra. "No matter what, as much as I am disinclined to, we cannot let this harbour be destroyed. And anyway we've been dragging our assignment for too long..." His eyes narrowed, then turned to look seriously at his partner. "Listen. Sephiroth mentioned that the Sphere was looking for the black and white materias. We can use them to lure the Sphere into not attacking us for a while. Try to talk with the thing to gain some time. As for Sephiroth and Zack, I'm sure the Indicator has already started to sound out warning bells - /if/ they have retrieved it already... As long as we stick close to the Sphere, we'll have a chance of capturing it."

In the meantime, Vincent had taken to staring at Cloud with wonder in his ruby eyes. "You want to use /what/ to lure the Sphere out?"

The blond blinked at his friend's outburst. He thought for a while, then reached into his cape and pulled out a long chain he had been wearing inconspicuously around his neck all this time. While the chain itself was nothing noteworthy, the two orbs encased beneath it on a decorated placeholder shining brilliantly against the sun above the clouds that, were.

"The black and white materias," Cloud was saying to a bedazzled Vincent, who could not stop staring at the two materia orbs that could easily decide the fate of the planet, hanging off the neck of his friend like they were a couple of ornate accessories. "We can use them to lure the Sphere to us, then buy some time for Sephiroth and Zack to get the Indicator to us." The blond tilted his head slightly when he saw that Vincent was going through a severe degree of shock. "... You don't think it'll work?"

"No..." Vincent replied, then shook his head. "I mean... no... yes... Well..." He sighed. "Cloud. How /long/ have we been travelling together?"

The blond eyed the older person strangely. "A few thousand years?"

"And you never told me you had the black and white materias." There was slight accusation in Vincent's tone.

Silence.

"I never told you before?"

"No."

"Oh."

"... oh?"

"... err... now you know?"

Vincent gave Cloud a Look. He wondered, only briefly, just how many more things Cloud had conveniently forgotten to tell him. "Do I even want to know how you acquired the materia?" He eventually asked.

"Not if you can't handle a story spanning three time periods and four mismatched warriors," Cloud chuckled in reply, making Vincent wonder if the blond had randomly hauled an excuse out from the back of his mind. "Anyway," the shorter of the duo was saying as he waved his hands about to try to make his point, "we don't have time for all of that now. Help me think of a foolproof way to get the Sphere's attention about the materia already!"

"Well, why don't you just summon Meteor?" Vincent raised an eyebrow at the insipid question. "That'll get the attention of /anyone/."

Cloud stared. "You did not just ask me to summon that huge chunk of space dust onto the planet."

"Of course not," Vincent agreed. "I asked you to summon Meteor, not space dust."

The stare turned into a glare. "That's not going to work, Vincent! Granted, we'll surely get the Sphere's attention that way, but who's going to be responsible for eliminating the menace afterwards? /I/ can't control the black or white materias! I'm not Cetra, in case you've forgotten. We're supposed to retrieve the Sphere, not mess up the timeline more than it already is, and most certainly not destroy the world before Sephiroth even gets a shot at it!"

Throughout Cloud's entire rant, Vincent had remained carefully silent. Although he did not interrupt the boy while he spoke, he maintained a deep, contemplative aura, that of which did not escape Cloud's attention. After his final sentence, the blond stared expectantly at his companion, knowing that the raven-haired man had something to add.

And he did.

"How would you know?" Vincent's voice was dull and monotonous, yet curious and sincere. "You've never really tried using the materia before, have you?"

Taken aback by the question, Cloud found himself unable to reply.

"Why don't we test it?" Vincent shrugged as he continued, unconcerned. "With Holy. Use Holy. That wouldn't harm the planet at all, and in case you really can toss the spell, you're going to need a healthy reserve of Holy to back you up for Meteor anyway." He smiled, ever so slightly. "Who's the one who's always telling me 'you won't know until you try?'"

The younger mercenary looked away, a slight pout upon his lips. He breathed and fiddled with the handle of his sword, then sighed. "I guess you're right. We're not going anywhere at this rate anyway. Might as well do something drastic," he grinned.

And this time, Vincent did let a smile decorate his face entirely.

As he watched on with slight concern, he felt yet another slight dip in temperature - the same thing that happened everytime Cloud was going to pull off some grand magick or other. He had noted it to the blond a few times in their travels and while the boy promised to watch his MP control more carefully, it had simply gotten worser as time went on. Now, Vincent was sure, even normal humans who did not have enhanced Mako sensitivity could feel the abnormal plunge in the atmosphere. He had spoken privately to various Mako scientists regarding Cloud's problem a few times, and their answers were unanimously similar.

It was not that Cloud did not want to control his MP.

It was that he could not.

Over the long period of time they had lived, while their physical aging had stopped, their mental and magical abilities had, on the other hand, continued expanding. Although Vincent's growth was not as obvious, Cloud on the other hand kept on absorbing power like a bottomless sponge pit - whether he knew it or not. He did, after all, have an insanely large quantity of Mako and alien cells in his body. As it snowballed, Cloud now held an almost impossible amount of magical abilities, and thus whenever he concentrated on channeling that power, like he was doing now, it was instantly noticable. Like a fireball eating up a snowclad landscape.

Which, Vincent mused, was a good thing that the Sphere lacked the ability to discern distinct auras and temperatures.

He noticed that Cloud was suddenly looking confused, and he instantly tensed. As powerful as the black and white materias were, their backlash could possibly disorientate his partner, sending him off his Float spell and straight into the deep, dark and foreboding ocean beneath them. He was relieved, therefore, when a moment later, Cloud turned to look at him, surprise and disbelief etched across his face. He was grasping the two materia orbs tightly in his hand still, and the white materia was glowing with an almost insane looking green light. But otherwise, Cloud still looked like he was in the right frame of mind, if a little shaken about something.

"It worked?" Vincent prompted.

"Well," was the response, slow and hesitant. "I don't know." Cloud laughed uneasily. "There was no feedback - not even in the form of backlash, so... your guess is as good as mine."

Not two seconds after he uttered those words, they both spotted a small twinkle below them, through the foggy mist the Sphere had whipped up. At first it remained what it was - a mere twinkle upon the surface of the vast watery deep. Then, as they observed on, it burst through the thick fog in their full glory, gently swirling around the duo in a splash of sparkling blue activity. Cloud gaped and Vincent looked almost horrified. Oblivious to the faces of their summoners, Holy continued to ripple about the duo in a protective coccoon. Then, like a pendulum running out of energy, it slowly subsided into a converged, invisible pool just barely beneath the two time travellers. From where they stood staring at the spell, Cloud noted with mild amusement that it now looked like Vincent and himself were standing in midair atop a platter of washy blue liquid.

"It worked," Vincent's voice drew him back to the situation on hand.

Grudgingly, Cloud agreed, "Yeah... surprisingly." He paused. "... so, what in the world are we supposed to do with it?"

"The black and white materias could be special kinds of summon materia," Vincent offered, trying to sound as helpful as he could. "If that is the case, then it isn't a spell you simply throw at the opponent to see if it hits the other party. Perhaps they, like the other summon materias, are intelligent enough to wait for your command and the opportune moment to carry out their commission?"

Although incredulous, Cloud still nodded slightly. "I guess that's possible." He glanced down at the waiting pool of blue and scratched his head. "Err, well... you, Holy, go... hide somewhere and wait... until Meteor comes. Then when I give the call you rush out and smash it to smithereens, understand?" He wagged a finger, trying to sound like a school teacher.

And to his absolute surprise, the Holy spell twinkled slightly, then quickly disappeared from their sight in a rush of sparkling blue light.

There was a brief silence.

"I wonder why nobody ever tried talking to Meteor when it struck in our time?" Vincent mused.

Cloud glanced at him and sighed. "Stop being such a smartass and help me out here," he grumbled, changing from grasping the white materia to grasping the black materia instead. The two orbs made a melodious clinking sound as they bumped clumsily against each other, giving a contrary impression to the power behind their true usage. Cloud's gloved hand tightened on the dark orb and he brought it close to his heart, eyebrows knitted together in concentration.

"This will either make or break it."

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

Somewhere atop the barrel of the yet to be mounted Junon cannon, Sephiroth and Zack raised their eyes and saw that the twin lines of Indicator red shot straight towards the middle of a large patch of clouds illuminated with an unearthly white. They blinked and turned to glance at each other.

"I think that must be our target," Zack nodded with a confident smile.

"I can see that, Zack," Sephiroth rolled his eyes. "The problem is, of course, how we are supposed to get there?"

"Fly!" Was the immediate response. And for that, Zack earned himself a lump upside the head. "Hey! I mean, really! There's no other way to get up there without flying is there?"

"I was asking for suggestions that are humanly possible!" Sephiroth shot back. "And if you have none, then hold your tongue!"

Zack made a face at his superior.

"Actually," a quiet, unassuming voice made the two SOLDIERs jump, "it is quite possible to levitate in mid-air, if you have the proper equipment or know the right people." The duo turned to stare a flat-faced Vincent, floating in the air somewhere beside them. "Well, SOLDIERs? Are you interested in a free ride into the skies?"

Zack recovered first. "Colin, my friend!" He mock saluted. "Wow! I wouldn't miss a chance for a ride to the skies for anything in the world!"

The raven-haired mercenary's eyes were laughing, although his face betrayed nothing. He turned from nodding at Zack to stare at Sephiroth. "What about you?" He asked plainly.

The silver haired General's instant and natural impulse was to deny and reject such an outrageous idea. But as he was also unable to deny the fact that Vincent was /floating/ about merrily before his very eyes, he at long last mumbled something inaudible, before looking up with clear questioning in his eyes.

"Are you sure it's a safe?"

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

After seeing the tendrils of red light beaming through the fog and into the skies, Cloud concluded that the two SOLDIERs were near. He at once asked Vincent to go fetch the Indicator, although the twitch of lips Vincent had showed before he zoomed away told Cloud that he was probably going to be fetching a /lot/ more than just the Indicator. He shook his head. He never really did understand what drove Vincent's sometimes strange decisions.

Back to the situation at hand, Cloud was pleased to notice that the Sphere was apparently blinded with much rage, for he was now within minor spell blasting distance, but the globe of light had yet to notice his approach. Through the mist, the Sphere was focusing a beam of energy, carefully scouring the land beneath the thick layer of storm clouds. The blond chuckled inwardly. What a grand way to go about on a search operation.

"Not a very economical way of spreading out your power, don't you think?" Cloud called out loud to the Sphere, who stopped glowing and paused in activity. Bravely, the mercenary stepped out of hiding and pushed closer to where the Sphere resided. "You may have tremendous power and energy - one that far exceeds any one of us walking the planet, but still," he lifted a flap of the rough cloak draped over his shoulders and held out the long chain he wore around his neck. "Still, your power is not limitless."

Despite the heavy racket of the winds and thundering rainstorm beneath them, the two materia orbs still made a beautiful, crystal clear clinking sound as they bathed in sunlight again after a long period of being hidden beneath hoods and cloaks. The Sphere was now completely apt with attention, and although it lacked the proper components, Cloud was sure it was staring with amazement at the two orbs in his hand.

Perfect.

"I don't believe you," the orb slowly said, sounding hesitant even to itself. "Get lost before I blast you to energy bits."

Cloud stifled a chuckle, before recomposing himself to say, "I thought you'd say that. Maybe you would like a little demonstration... ?"

Before he had yet reached the end of his statement, dark, cackling lightning began to form around the materia orbs, travelling up and down their curves with stinging clarity. A roar tore through the skies that were above the clouds and mist, and what had originally been a stretch of nice and sunny skies became a cauldron of ash and flames.

In place of the sun, was the convolution of a massive supernova, slowly swirling into visibility, tainting the rest of the skies with its dark orange hue. The sheer power could be felt in the electrifying air, and one didn't need to have human senses to acknowledge that there was a severe change in the density of the atmosphere.

It was against this backdrop that Cloud next spoke up.

"I am a mere human. But with my menial strength I can bring this whole planet to its feet with the help of the black materia.

"Can you imagine what it would be like if /you/, the source of almost unlimited energy, tapped on its power?"

In the distance, the skies flashed a sparkling blue.

Then descended into chaotic purple.

 

\-------------------------------  
... end seventeen ...  
19/6/2004


	18. Chapter 18

Standard disclaimers apply.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... timeless . ageless . changeless ...  
\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... eighteen

 

Sephiroth had taken airborne vehicles before in his life. Whenever he had the chance to look out of the small, round windows of the Gelnika or a like prototype of yet another one of Shinra's aerial projects, he always marvelled at how insignificant he seemed to matter to the planet as a whole. Despite having the most elite squadron of military men under his command in all the known continents, when in air, none of it seemed to matter. Even the most powerful of warriors was nothing but a mere ant atop the surface of the globe, which he could put between his thumb and index finger and snuff completely out of sight with a slight squeeze. He had wondered if that was what it felt like to have absolute power, and admitted that he enjoyed the feeling of soaring through clusters of puffy white clouds, reaching his destination in a short time no matter how huge the ocean or desert that separated it from him.

All of that, however, could not win this soothing feeling of rushing cold air beating carefully against his skin and face.

"If this is what it feels like to be on top of the world," Zack was saying from where he soared beside his superior, "then I think I can die happy now." He noticed Sephiroth peering curiously at him from the corner of his eye and turned to grin at the silver-haired General. "You think so too, don't you, Sephiroth?"

The silver-haired SOLDIER did not reply, although his lips quirked upwards slightly, as if a smile was trying to push itself onto his expression.

"Hey, Colin!" Zack continued, chirping away. "This is the coolest spell I've ever seen from since my entrance into SOLDIER! Thanks for taking us along on the ride!"

Vincent, who was in the lead for the pack all this while, turned his head slightly so he could capture the two SOLDIERs with one glance. "There is no need to thank me," he uttered, barely audible thanks to the rumbling thunder and howling rains, "because there is something up there that requires your attention as much as it requires mine. And it is only fair that you witness the final conclusion of this affair, having supported us throughout our time of need, no matter how Lord Avon thinks otherwise."

There were various different points of interest that Vincent brought up in that one sentence alone that Sephiroth found himself itching to question. Before his curiosity could override his reason, though, Vincent led the way around a sharp, cloudy bend and broke through the conglomerate of thick, dark storm clouds.

Pushing out of the rain and into the bright sun was a wonderful feeling, Sephiroth decided, both sight, sound, and sense wise.

But Vincent did not stop there. If anything, he began to push forth with a faster speed than ever. Although he did not entirely leave the two SOLDIERs in his wake, the sudden sense of urgency that permeated the air was too obvious to be ignored.

Not that the duo did not understand why it was so.

The air was crackling with electricity and tension. They could all recognise Cloud's distinct aura, as well as the foreboding presence of the Sphere they had learnt to hate.

And it did not seem like they were engaged in mere friendly banter.

Without warning, the clear blue skies began to slowly morph into dark, dangerous orange-black. The sun was slowly being engulfed by a large piece of massive hot-rock, and it felt so near but yet so far at the same time. Sephiroth could feel himself shivering slightly at the sight. He found himself unable to stop himself from asking, "What in the world is /that/?"

Vincent did not turn back to face the SOLDIERs when he replied, "Meteor," and received raised eyebrows from both men following him. "The ultimate offensive magic on the planet in any time period that cannot be stopped by anything but Holy." There was a slight twitch in his shoulders. "... you may want to remember that... for future reference."

Unsure of what to make of that statement, Sephiroth nevertheless pushed on, "What's happening actually? Why does Ipsen need such a massive spell to take on the Sphere?"

As they continued racing over the storm clouds towards the makeshift battleground which was literally pulsating with the glow of power, Vincent quickly briefed the duo, "Lord Avon is trying to buy some time so that we can get the Indicator to him, as it is the only thing that can do anything to the Sphere at all. But the Sphere is stubborn and unreasonable, so to avoid getting blasted to energy bits on contact, Lord Avon has to strike a deal with the Sphere. Since the General mentioned that the Sphere is looking for the ultimate materias, namely, the black and white materias, which is in Lord Avon's possession by a stroke of pure chance, he thought he would use it to keep the Sphere at bay, even for a while..." Vincent frowned. "I only hope that the summoning of Meteor was only for a demonstration, and not a retaliation..." He trailed off, fear suddenly gripping him from inside. Was he wrong to have left Cloud to deal with the Sphere alone?

Zack's next sentence came, therefore, as a refreshing surprise.

"Dude," the darker-haired SOLDIER shook his head and gave a mock pout. "What are you so damned worried about? Do you know who's the man in question here? Ipsen Avon, hello?" The pout stretched into a grin. "If he finds out that you've been throwing a hissy fit about how he might not be able to complete his mission, he'll have your ass on a platter faster than you can say 'Sephiroth sucks!'"

"Sephiroth does not suck," Sephiroth corrected his subordinate with a deadpan. "He does, however, assign wayward subordinates to permanent toilet duty of the 66th storey with no day off all year round plus a healthy pay cut." He smirked when Zack shot him a look of horror. "Don't worry Zack, you won't be to only one who's had to suffer this brand of Sephiroth wrath. You should feel be proud of yourself."

"Bastard!" The porcupine head cried out in indignation.

"Thank you," Sephiroth morosely replied. "I learn from the best."

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

"So it was with you all along," the Sphere snarled, and stopped projecting energy to scour the grounds below. "Little wonder I could never locate them no matter how close I thought I was to them. I was running away from the black and white materias all this while!"

"Absolutely brilliant conclusion you got there," Cloud shrugged, letting go of the materia so that they returned to their original position against his chest. "But to tell you the truth, nobody would have thought that I was the one holding onto the materias all this while. Even /I/ had almost forgotten."

There was suspicion thick in the air. "What are you trying to say?" The ball of light asked succinctly. "You don't mean to say that if you hand the materia over, I should follow you back to the future and live the life of a guinea pig again, do you?"

Cloud thought about it for a while. He then smiled and nodded. "Something like that!"

Sharp bolts of energy immediately shot at Cloud from parallel directions, demolishing the barrier he had carefully set up and sending his cloak whipping about him dangerously by sheer value of its tremendous power.

Despite the close brush with certain extermination, Cloud's smile never wavered even for a split second. "If you're going to go around wasting so much power on minor temper tantrums like these, I must say that even if you had limitless energy, you would eventually run out anyway." He shook his head. "I can't believe you think you can control the world with your lousy control over your own powers."

"I don't need a weakling like you to teach me, Ipsen," the luminary snapped. "In this world, past or present, power is and has always been everything. If you're a subject you're nothing more than dirt on the ground. When you have no power you are just like a puppet in someone's hands, having your own will but forced to carry out someone else's. All these years, Ipsen, I have lived the life of a lab rat, taught to know nothing, feel nothing and do nothing but what the scientists experimenting with me tell me to. Can you understand the pain?

"Can you understand why I now have a desperate need to execute my own justice on my persecutors?"

It was as if the planet itself had been swallowed whole by a painful, nostalgic silence. As if there was nothing animate anymore, but the Sphere and its opponent, staring at one another, each trying to understand the other.

Eventually it was Cloud who moved first, head tilting towards his right shoulder, the smile on his face almost as soft as his voice when he next spoke up.

"I..." he stated quietly, wistfully, "... once knew a man who was like you..." He smiled at nothing in particular. "Mmm," he made a random noise, looking upwards and sighing, "I'm not very good with words myself, but I'm telling you... when you find out that you've been fighting hard for and looking out for nothing but a lie all this while, you're going to end up feeling worse than you already were about your life. Why try so hard to seek for acknowledgement by trying to prove that you're better? You can never be better. There'll always be somebody you cannot win in something." Cloud beamed. "Don't live in your own little illusionary world where you think nobody can hurt you if you hurt them first." Cloud paused. "Because, you'll end up hurting yourself more than anyone else can ever hurt you."

The Sphere appeared thoughtful for the full length of two seconds. Then it snorted. "Your words are meaningless to me, Ipsen. I will never listen to the nonsense of a lower being!" It began to glow dangerously again, this time sending out a jet of residue energy aura that destroyed the remainder of whatever shield Cloud had been trying to put up around himself. The blond mercenary's expressions darkened initially, then reverted to his usual poker-face, even as the Sphere demanded, "Well?! Are you going to hand over the materias or do I have to pluck them out from your dead body?"

Cloud smiled a generic, non-commital smile. "Here's a better idea," he said, even as several green orbs attached to his armour began to glow at the same time. "You come back with me to Professor Odin and we'll have a good talk with the weirdo. If he continues to be stubborn about not understanding you, you can do whatever you want to his lab and I won't stop you anymore. I'll even let you play with the black materia a bit, how about that?"

"Utter nonsense!" The Sphere immediately responded. "You will not stop me! Nobody will!" It flashed a dangerous bright and hot white, then vanished from its central position within a hearth of puffy white clouds.

And as for the blond, he narrowed his eyes and strengthened his magical barriers. Rousing the Sphere had its advantages and disadvantages - the former being that now that the ball of light was no longer thinking straight, it would most probably not be able to shoot its energy bolts straight either. The downside, was, of course, that with the added aggression of its fury, the Sphere's wayward bolts of energy were now probably double in power and speed.

He should not think of what he was going to do after he got hit now.

For, with all honesty - he simply could NOT get hit, even by just one blast of energy.

The mercenary grinned.

It didn't mean that he was going to make it any easier for the misbehaving ball of animated light either, of course.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

With Meteor looming dangerously in the background against a charcoal dark sky, the trio who were speeding towards where the battlefield was felt an unspeakable emotion of hurry tightening around their throats. As soon as they reached the boundary of clouds, a nasty jolt of energy gone amok pierced through the condensed water and forced the group to instinctively duck. They waited for a while to see if anymore would come, and when the sterling conclusion was that none would... yet, the trio quickly regrouped and burst into the circle of clouds, fog and mist to get a clear view of the situation on hand.

The inside of the battleground was deceptively quiet.

A single figure hung about suspended in the middle of the fairly empty and normal looking skyline, his long, brown cloak gently flapping about in the atmospheric winds. His back was against the trio so they could not figure his countenance. But this they had not needed to be puzzled over for long. A sudden bolt of silent energy ray rushed straight towards the figure, coming dangerously close to blasting his head off, when he spun around at an amazing speed and lifted a large, white-and-blue blade in an arc around himself, effectively nullifying the energy attack.

As he recovered from the strike, Vincent called out quickly, "Lord Avon!," an unspoken question of concern overlaid in his tone. Cloud took two seconds to glance back, shout "Colin!" like a panicked young boy again for the first time in milleniums, "Indicator! NOW!!" before spinning around again to deflect yet another blast coming from the circumference of the cloudy arena.

Vincent immediately shot a glance at Sephiroth. The General quickly nodded and produced the little machine from wherever he usually kept his stuff hidden, stretching his hand out to hand it over to the ruby-eyed mercenary.

It would have been successful, if a sharp bolt of energy and lightning had not chosen that precise moment in time to slice between the duo and force Sephiroth to drop the device and Vincent to be too shocked to retrieve it.

The Indicator, still flashing a deep, crimson red, fell through the clouds, straight for the ocean bed - slowly, but surely.

"Never, you hear?!" The disembodied voice of the Sphere cackled loudly from seemingly all directions. "You shall never capture me with that infernal component again!" The laughter trailed, and the Sphere sent a stream of less aggressive energy bolts towards where the trio were standing.

Vincent, however, cared naught and wasted not a moment more. "I'm going after it!" He quickly let his partners know. "Zack, cover me!" He further commanded as he, too, disappeared into the clouds after the machine.

"I'm on it, captain!" Zack plunged after Vincent upon regaining his senses, recognising the urgency of the situation. Not, however, before he shot Sephiroth a semi-sly look of reassurance and reliance all combined together.

The SOLDIER General would have given more thought to what that was supposed to have meant, when the answer came rushing to him in the form of hundreds of small tendrils of energy missiles. His eyes widened for a split second, then well trained natural instincts kicked in and he nearly scorched his Barrier materia with an overload of MP as he set up the strongest walls he knew of around the area that the missiles were headed for - namely, himself.

"That stupid, brainless, sad excuse of a SOLDIER subordinate... !" Sephiroth mumbled to himself while using the Masamune to knock off all the missiles that made it through the magical barrier. "You're supposed to cover for your General, not some random guy from the future!" After a while of grumbling to nothing but thin-air, he finally cleared off the missiles and began to peruse the situation for some more things to do.

A flash of brown and blond beside him captured his attention, and when he turned to look beside him, he saw that a heavily breathing Cloud had somehow made his way to this side of the battlefield and was eyeing him with what must have been slight annoyance.

"I could use some help, General Sephiroth, sir," Cloud said, when Sephiroth stared with blinking confusion at him. A bolt of hot, white light slammed into their collective barrier and surprised the General with its massive power. Even though he had warred for almost his entire life, he had yet to see and feel power that was so pure and so strong.

"What can I do?" He asked, genuinely at a loss.

"Keep the barrier up and try to fend off any approaching power attacks. Even if the Sphere should shoot at us with full force for the rest of the day it likely won't run out of energy just yet. Stamina wise, we're at a disadvantage. But if we work together, we can at least keep it in place until they get the Indicator back." He paused to deflect yet another shot of energy.

"Why don't we just," Sephiroth replied, fumbling slightly with his Barrier materia, "find the Sphere and attack it head on from there? If we can bring it down, or at least trap or corner it, then we won't have to face so many attacks, right?"

Cloud stopped slightly in whatever he had been doing to give Sephiroth a strange glance. "I've been trying to locate it, of course. Against a pure energy invisibility shield, however, I have absolutely no chance."

Another flash dived for the duo, this time aiming for Sephiroth's head, before he could even say 'darn.' Of course, the warrior's naturally crafted instincts took care of that before it even stood a chance. Still, it was a powerful blast, and the silver-haired man was not sure how many of the same kind of blasts he could take before running out of strength. Their barriers shattered upon every blast and they had to keep building new ones - which was not easy; the Barrier materia being one of the most strenous spells you could cast in the known world. Already, he could see that Cloud was fighting hard to conserve some amount of energy for a final burst of strength - but failing. Beside the spells, there was also the fear of the consequence of being hit that would wear down their psyches quickly. Sephiroth knew, distinctly, that this was a battle they could not afford to drag, nor lose.

"Ipsen," he stated, his voice deep with authority. He saw the blond tense visibly, but did not venture to ask why, instead continuing, "Cover for me. I'm going to try to find the Sphere - we need to make this a short battle, or we'll lose it anyway."

Cloud gaped first, then asked, "How exactly were you planning on doing that?"

For a split second, Sephiroth felt a pang of annoyance. Then he realised that he was not talking to one of his SOLDIERs, and calmed down. "Well, I have no idea," he admitted, "but I want to know that I'm at least doing something useful. Just cover me for as long as you can handle it. We'll improvise from there," he turned around and smiled reassuringly at the blond, who looked away uneasily at the sudden attention.

"I don't..."

"Trust me," Sephiroth said, still smiling.

Unable to lift his eyes to meet Sephiroth's, Cloud bit his lower lip. "I don't... want to see anyone hurt... if I can help it..." His voice was so soft, Sephiroth was not really sure he heard that right. Eventually the blond grunted, "Yeah... right. Nevermind. Okay. Just... tell me what to do."

"Good boy," Sephiroth grinned, ignoring the sudden glare he immediately received from Cloud. "First, tell me - how much time does the Sphere take to recover from one blast before it shoots another?"

"Depends on how strong the blast is," Cloud replied, "anytime between one to five seconds, I would say. Usually in under two seconds."

"Could it be controlling its energy from somewhere further than the vicinity?"

"No," the blond shook his head firmly. "The Sphere can only shoot energy beams out within a fixed distance. Anymore and the energy will just dissipate. That's probably one of the reasons why it needs a strong materia to amplify its powers."

"That means it must be in the area currently, then?"

The blond nodded slowly.

"Very good," Sephiroth quickly sliced an incoming energy missile into half, sending the residue bits hurtling into the ocean beneath in sputters of light. "I'm sure the Sphere is somewhere in the midst of all these puffy white clouds, then."

"I wouldn't deny that," Cloud agreed. "But I haven't had the time to try to disperse the clouds yet."

Sephiroth held another beam of light at bay and conjured up another wall in the meantime. "Well," he shifted and pushed the raw energy away, "now you do."

For a while, Cloud stared in amazement at the taller person. Being used to the mercenary's thoughtful silences, Sephiroth thought the better of commenting while the blond sorted out whatever he needed to sort in that little mind of his. Eventually Cloud closed his agape jaw and nodded tersely. "Right. I'll try. Don't let the power of the Sphere overwhelm you in the meantime!" He warned casually. Without another word, he started to gather about the remnant of his power to concentrate on a gale that would drive the clouds away.

Despite his almost depleted outlook, Cloud's energy almost literally made Sephiroth's hair stand on ends, as static electricity began to crackle across the windy air terrain. Whatever Cloud did, he never ceased to amaze Sephiroth with his resilience and abnormally vast magical abilities.

Now, of course, was hardly the time to be amazed.

The SOLDIER barely had enough time to think when the Masamune automatically thwarted another attempt by the Sphere to hurt either one of them fatally. He randomly shot a high-level Ice spell into the distance, knowing that he was practically trying to pin the donkey's tail blindfolded and handcuffed, but willing to try anyway. He was General Sephiroth, the leader of the SOLDIERs. He didn't just let the enemy fire missiles at him without trying to even retaliate!

Although he had to admit.

This Sphere was entirely too powerful for an animate ball of light.

Before his thoughts could progress any further, a mystic gale erupted from beneath, sweeping into a climatic crescendo into the area they were in. The swirling winds came from all directions and were fighting against each other for dominance, none getting the upper hand for quite a while. Sephiroth knew, as he watched the immaterial puffs of condensed air get ripped into nothingness, that it was only the magical barrier he had set up that was preventing him from suffering the same fate. He quickly and testily checked the barrier to make sure that it was holding up, because it would be quite a sight if it suddenly fell and he got knocked from mid-air into mid-ocean. Thankfully, all was in order, and the shield looked set for at least until the winds blew over.

He didn't have to wait long, for as soon as the last wisp of clouds disappeared, Cloud stopped the spell and all around them, the atmosphere descended into the peace of a bright, sunny afternoon at the harbour again. Cloud opened his eyes just in time to see the last tendrils of translucent chalkiness vanish from the air. Now that the skies were painted a dark, dangerous hue of orange and grey, they could see the pulsating globe of energy clearly, as it stood a stark contrast against the background.

"See?" Cloud was saying, as he swung the Ultima Weapon by his side in a large semi-arc, the sheer power rippling out from the sword making even Sephiroth envious. "Things only get more interested when the odds are even."

The Sphere glowed once, its powerful circling it like a rounded razor blade. "Enough," it said, "I've had enough of your know-it-all attitude." The light surrounding it grew larger and larger. "This time, I'll make sure you have nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide, and nowhere to be seen after I'm done with you."

The bright flash of light that subsequently stained the entire Junon sky lasted for a good minute or so.

And the people who were peering out of their windows at that time would have you know that even though the light was soundless,

it gave off a lethal feeling of doom and gloom no noisy explosion could even come near of reaching.

 

\-------------------------------  
... end eighteen ...  
27/6/2004


	19. Chapter 19

Standard disclaimers apply.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... timeless . ageless . changeless ...  
\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... nineteen

 

Vincent was the first to arrive at the scene of carnage, when the light was still scintillating. Visibility was low and he could feel slight panic build in his throat. "Avon?" He called out tentatively. "Lord Avon?"

"Ow! My eyes! Which wise guy threw a light bomb in here?" The voice he next heard, however, was Zack's, as the SOLDIER waltzed into the airy terrain with much squinting. The vampire-like man spun around and glanced briefly at him, expressions unreadable, then turned back to scan the terrain. "Where's that large ball of light?" Zack tried again, seeing; knowing that Vincent was not too keen on discussing the environment currently. "And for that matter where are the two of them?"

"I don't know..." Vincent mumbled, sounding almost annoyed. "... I-"

His sentence was abruptly cut off when a swift, whizzing beam of energy dived straight for him and would have severed his head from his shoulders if there had not been a shield and Zack's sword in the way. The energy splattered into the atmosphere quietly in the aftermath, even as the SOLDIER gasped, eyes large as saucers. "That was close!" He breathed.

Vincent, on the other hand, narrowed his eyes and quietly loaded the specially formulated energy-seeking magazines onto his gun.

Professor Odin - that was the slightly eccentric but otherwise harmless professor who had sent them back to the past, he remembered - had been the one to present them to him, claiming that it would go straight for the greatest source of energy: most likely the Sphere. Now was a good a time as any to use it. Wordlessly, he fired a shot in a random direction, making Zack jump.

"Woah, watch it!" The dark-haired SOLDIER was saying, as he held a hand to his heart. He was about to protest further, but the bullet Vincent had shot left a trail of colourful smoke in its wake, attracting his attention instead. The ammunition shell thrust itself through the gradually receding light. As the duo watched on, it slammed into a stop in front of a moving, waving blue block of wall that was shaped like a watery oval. The bright flare in the sky continued to dim, until it gradually faded into a small spot in front of the bluish coccoon.

That small spot being the Sphere, whose luminance had begun to flicker slightly.

If the Sphere had a mouth, Vincent could swear it would have been gaping and gawking when it said, "I-Impossible! What's this!?"

The colourful trail of smoke the energy-seeking bullet continued to burn brightly in front of the blue coccoon, now that the bullet itself was lodged rather snugly somewhere in the liquid-like quartz. Vincent blinked in slight disbelief. There was something in this planet that had more power than the Energy Sphere?

"What's what?" Zack butt in, slightly late, but nonchalant nevertheless. Predictably, the Sphere did not reply.

"If I'm not wrong," Vincent helpfully provided, "he's talking about that shimmering blue thing which we are also wondering about."

They all stared at the blue thing for a while.

"Oh," the SOLDIER grunted.

Then without warning, the blue thing spiralled quickly around itself until it was no longer an enclosure. It settled meekly somewhere nearby in a pool of blue goo instead, revealing the two baffled-looking warriors who had been hidden in their protective crystal of blue all this while.

Cloud blinked. The white materia dangling off his necklace was glowing with a strange, fiery light, attracting his attention. He slowly lifted the chain to stare first at the crystal white orb that was shining with a mesmerizing white and green, then at the sparkling blue Holy spell floating around somewhere beside him. "What in the world just happened?" He could not stop himself from blurting out.

Equally miffed, but betraying no such expression on his face, Sephiroth stated dully, "There was a bright light and at least one million and one energy missiles, then this blue thing came out of nowhere and surrounded us, likely nullifying the offense directed towards us, effectively saving our hides. Currently, the Sphere does not look too pleased, and our comrades have returned. I suggest we bail to somewhere safe for now."

"..."

"..."

"If /that/ is how all Shinra military file and give reports, I pity the fool who has to read and sanction their official status..."

Sephiroth shrugged. "You're right. It's hard to flex your creativity when the foolish military man doing all your paper work goes by the name of Zack-"

"... Hey, don't think I can't hear you, Sephiroth!!"

"- and cannot read past two sentence conjunctions without complaining of an apocalyptic headache and insisting you give him a pay raise," the General breathed, "... and anyway, don't we have something else more important on hand at the moment?"

The blond floated instinctively backwards, mainly because of having just witnessed Sephiroth drone - a rarity if he ever had seen any. He obliged by spinning around to stare at the globe, realising that the rest were already scrutinising the Sphere with great suspicion. The ball of light, on the other hand, had remained perpetually silent ever since the tables were apparently turned.

Sensing the question in the Sphere's flickering, Cloud took it upon himself to explain, "You see, this blue thing," he gestured at the puddle of blue beside him, which sparkled in reply, "is called Holy - the antitype of Meteor. Which is that big chunk of rock in the sky," he pointed tentatively, and almost shuddered when he thought he actually /saw/ Meteor glow a bright orange for about two seconds. He ignored it. "While Meteor's purpose is death and destruction, Holy strives to protect and rebuild. They both, however, have one goal in common - their ultimate purpose of existence is to help the planet rid itself of menaces and pests that pose a major risk against it, although they both do it in a different way, so yeah," he nodded casually, "when Holy defended us against you, you've just been confirmed to be a planet menance. Congratulations."

"We have the Indicator," Vincent calmly said, although he did not furnish whether it was he or Zack who actually held it. "And you're not in very good shape. I would suggest you to give up resistance. You can't take down the four of us and Holy all at once, no matter how much power you have."

The Sphere's lustre had dulled considerably from since they first saw it. It was no longer teeming with activity and energy, but was now strangely quiet and covert, as if waiting for the right time and chance to do something.

"If you're trying to disappear into the background you're not succeeding, you know," Zack mused, when the Sphere still refused to speak.

"Well?" Cloud continued from there. "Will you come with us willingly? Or will it be another fight to the finish?" He smiled confidently, feeling a strange sense of safety with comrades surrounding him.

How long had it been since he had so many friends who stood by his side?

The Sphere, on the other hand, looked doubtful. "Very well..." it eventually said, after a long deliberation. "It looks like there is no point to dragging this on. Very well, I will return with you. But I want to know if what you told me about speaking with Professor Odin are true or not..."

Something nagged at the back of Sephiroth's mind as the Sphere droned on, with the rest keeping silent. He figured it was his well honed instincts that he had acquired throughout years of having to deal with slime balls of the highest level, but did not know why it was nagging at a time like this. The Sphere's monotonous voice faded into a dull noise in the background, and he frowned while glancing from left to right. There was something wrong, and it was making his hair stand on ends. But he could not, for the life of him, figure out what it was.

Until a stiff breeze of energy flashed past him towards the harbour, and the Sphere started laughing while saying, "... except, Avon, that you probably shouldn't be discussing details with me. I am, after all, a mere figment of the real thing..."

Even as it was speaking, it slowly subsided and disappeared into nothingness. And the next part of what it had wanted to say was continued from a long distance away.

"I am here, Avon!" The Sphere's strong, unflinching voice forced all four to turn in the direction it had shouted from - the open air streets of Junon. There was laughter evident in its tone. "You can never get me down! If you even try to use the Indicator on me, I will spread enough power out to level this place! Think of how many people's lives are in your hands!"

While everyone else remained silent, Zack found himself staring at his comrades. "What just happened?" He was confused beyond compare. He looked at Vincent, who was drifting somewhere beside him and pressed on, "Hey, Colin? What just happened?"

The mercenary remained sombre. "An illusion," he eventually uttered. "We've been tricked."

"Well, Avon?" The Sphere carried on in its taunts, voice echoing in their heads more than in their ears. "I'm waiting!"

After a sigh, Cloud shook his head slowly. "No," his voice was soft but firm. "No," he repeated, "I know you better than that. I've watched you since you were just a seedling of energy - soulless and quiet. You've got a nice personality by nature, but you just don't have what it takes to lie convincingly. You're not going to blow the harbour up - it's too much trouble to go through to drive us away. And also," he smiled, tersely, "with your current level of energy, after one more blast of that size, where would that leave /you/? In a powerless heap on the ground, waiting for us to pick you up, I'm sure. With your amount of intelligence, I higly doubt this is a choice you would make knowingly." He grew stern at this point of time. "You have some other agenda on your mind."

Beside him, Sephiroth agreed wholeheartedly. The queasy feeling he had been feeling since the showdown yet to subside and he wondered now if they had ever been out of danger zone before at all.

"You do know me very well, Ipsen. Well enough to determine if my words were sound or not," the Sphere admitted. "But," it continued, "definitely not well enough to predict my every next move!!"

A burst of heat and light weaved into sudden action directly behind Sephiroth the instant the Sphere finished his speech. The silver-haired General barely had enough time to turn around to know and feel the massive amount of energy shaped like a sharp sword headed in his directly at point blank range. From the corner of his eye he could see Holy grow agitated, trying to surge forward to cover for him like it had previously.

But it was too far away to reach him in time to be of any help.

Rendered speechless and motionless at the turn of events, he could only watch on as the lethal looking energy sword drew closer and closer with every split second.

At the very last moment, a warm body leaned against his back, where the sword had been aiming for. There was another blinding flash of light in that direction, and Sephiroth remembered seeing the massive energy sword come to a clashing struggle against something translucent and blue, resulting in a bright, irritating flare of light. As soon as the flare subsided to a tolerable rate, he quickly opened his eyes wide to check what was going on.

There was no complaint or grumbling from the blond who now stood back to back with him, bringing his broadsword with cringing force against the sudden attack, saving Sephiroth from certain dismemberment. The SOLDIER 1st gasped slightly in surprise, about the same time the Sphere laughed and started talking again.

"You forgot, Ipsen," the globe glowed slightly, "that I know you just as well as you do I!" Before his words were yet completed, the magical sword started applying pressure against the Ultima Weapon, forcing Cloud backwards. By this time, Sephiroth had recovered from the initial shock and shifted, ready to join in the defense if necessary.

"Stay!" His actions were stopped by Cloud, who sounded as tensed as he was strained. "If you move away now I'm going to get batted away by that thing. Help me gain some balance!"

Sephiroth blinked and attempted to obey. It was, however, rather hard to give someone on your back balance, especially when you were drifting somewhere in mid-air, wondering if your next step would cause your plummet onto the ground.

"You're too naive, Ipsen!" The Sphere's voice cut through Sephiroth's ponderings again and he seriously felt like sic'ing some rabid fangirls on that thing to teach it a lesson it would never forget. He suddenly felt Cloud jerk to one side, however, and before he knew it he saw the world in a cycle of skies, clouds and seas - the result of Cloud having given him a rather rough push to the side. It wasn't a serious push, but it did get him out of the way of one very nasty bolt of energy missile, which he could distinctly /feel/ brushing by the hair ends of his face.

Cloud, however, got away with more than just a close shave.

That first energy missile Sephiroth had been pushed away from cut the airborne chain Cloud wore around his neck cleanly, and the entire necklace fell, along with the materia orbs attached to it.

Before Cloud, or anyone for that matter, could react, the next few energy missiles rained down on him like volcano hail, and it took all his skill and agility to make sure none of it hit his head or neck. This meant, however, that the missiles cut deep through his torso and limbs. Defence was nearly impossible, and the Ultima Weapon became nothing more than an accessory grasped tightly in his hand.

There was evident horror in the air among the others, but none could respond properly at all.

The final blow came in the form of a large energy bomb that was as visible as it was tangible. It slammed full force into the unsuspecting mercenary, throwing him with great strength across the length of the ocean and into one of the walls of the new Junon Harbour residential estate. The red metal bricks dented with a loud popping sound and the area around the point of contact crumbled into dust.

Needless to say, a lot of smoke and upturned soil veiled the scene of carnage.

The two SOLDIERs gaped.

"Cloud!" Vincent, however, almost had a heart attack. He raced towards the scene immediately. It took the SOLDIERs a while, but they quickly tried to catch up once the magnitude of the matter hit them.

And the Sphere continued laughing away. "I have them!" It announced in glee, while flashing several shocks of discowhite light. The trio paused in their search in the smoke for Cloud to glance at what the Sphere had meant, and were properly shocked to see two familiar looking materia orbiting the now floating Sphere. As it raised itself further and further into the skies, a feeling of doom immediately pervaded the environment.

There was, after all, something not quite right about an overpowered sphere of light having in its possession the two most powerful materias of all time.

"And now," the Sphere continued, powering the black materia up so that it began to glow an unearthly charcoal black, swallowing a large circumference of matter around it from sight. "Now, I shall summon more Meteors and give them the power to travel at the speed of light! This incorrigible, hateful world shall be no more!"

"Oh great," Zack rolled his eyes, "a villain who announces what his world domination plans are. /Those/ kind never last long, I tell ya."

"Should you be worrying about that now? Sephiroth was cross. "What happened to, 'Oh dear, what can we do now?!'? Where were you when we were having tactical studies, really?"

"Lessee," Zack immediately counted off his fingers. "I was at the library, the training hall, the canteen, my barrack bed, Aerith's house, Wallmarket, the-"

"I'm going after the Sphere," Vincent interrupted, a tinge of annoyance evident in his voice as he chose to ignore whatever Zack had just uttered. "I need someone to watch my back."

"- Honey Bee Inn, boy those girls were-... I'll do it!" The darker-haired SOLDIER smoothly replied while striking a pose and continuing from where he had been babbling off about. "Come on, Colin let's go!"

The vampire-like mercenary wordlessly stepped into flight - his Float spell still in effect. Still grinning away, Zack did the same thing and soon, the duo were nothing more than a rapidly vanishing pair of backs, speeding into the distance, where clouds had once again camouflagued the Sphere from general view.

Sephiroth blinked.

Realising belatedly that he had once again been entrusted with the care of the blond mercenary, he snapped into attention. It didn't take an expert to know that it was a massive attack Cloud had just sustained - and slamming into a metal wall could not have been of much help. "Ipsen?" He called out tentatively into the smog, taking a few experimental steps. He coughed when the dust got particularly thick and smelly at one point of time, making him wonder what exactly Shinra had used to build the inner walls with, if decent at all. "Are you alive, Ipsen? Care to give a reply or something?"

The General was greeted with nothing but stark silence, and the occasional yawning groan of a metal pipe or two as they bent over their original positions from the ceilings and walls, having apparently been dislocated when Cloud slammed full force into the place. Undeterred, Sephiroth stepped further in. The smell of leaking Mako could now also be heard - a strange whistling sound coming from somewhere in the foggy dust. The silver-haired man winced. If Ipsen was in there somewhere, then if he didn't get out soon in fifteen minutes or so he would be as good as dead from Mako poisoning anyway.

A wall to his left crumbled, and Sephiroth turned, senses propelled. He relaxed when he saw and felt nothing but what the sound was - a crumbling wall. He absently took one step in that direction and all but tripped on something soft and sinewy. The moment he regained his balance he quickly cast his eyes downwards. True to his inner predictions, he saw a glimpse of a curled up figure clad in rough brown.

The area was too dark for Sephiroth to judge the extent of Cloud's injuries - the only source of light being the outpouring from the large hole Cloud had made. As the sun was being shaded by several layers of clouds again, even that light did not travel far. The General bent down and quickly checked the mercenary's pulse rate. It was racing and erratic, boding bad things.

"Ipsen," Sephiroth immediately said upon arriving at that conclusion. "We have to get out of this area. It's leaking Mako, and you're not exactly in top form at the moment to battle against the effects of Mako poisoning."

Cloud grunted something muffled in reply.

"Come on," Sephiroth urged, when another wall beside him crumbled into dust. Not that he doubted if the building would hold up or not - and if it did not he would just laugh at Shinra's failure along with his other soldiers at the campfire. But when he was being trapped in a dangerous position where getting out in time or not may determine whether he got crushed by a lot of stone and rubble - not his ideal way of dying, by the way - then there was bound to be some sense of urgency within. "Don't force me to cart you out like a little girl, okay?" Even /he/ knew it was a little hitting below the belt to use that to threaten the man with, but as it were, it was the only thing he could think of to use at the moment. And the sentence did induce a more positive response from the blond.

First, the mercenary coughed raspily, before jerkily forcing himself into a sit. "Yes, mother," the blond said, in between heavy breathing and several bone-wracking coughs. "I'm up. I'm up."

Sephiroth stared for a while.

"You can't walk out by yourself like that," he stated, and Cloud's hand clutched the fabric of his bloodied cloak tighter, even as fresh drops of blood dripped onto the floor Sephiroth was sure had already tasted much blood during the time Cloud had laid prone in that spot.

"Well, I'd rather crawl than let you cart me out like a little girl by a far cry," the blond snapped in response, struggling to get onto his feet with the help of his Ultima Weapon. Sephiroth noted with detached interest that the formerly glowing white part of the blade was now tainted a deep dark, blue. Must be one of those fancy 'mood sensor' swords? Sephiroth snickered quietly to himself at the thought of a future Lord owning a fashion fad accessory.

The owner of the blade was currently standing with a severe hunch, almost relying his entire weight upon the blade. He tensed when Sephiroth walked closer and looked almost as if he was going to stab the General in the eye if he took another step. Sephiroth didn't know if he wanted to laugh or sigh.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to do anything," the silver-haired man held his hands up and shook his head. "But we should get out of here as soon as possible, if we don't want to die from Mako poisoning. And if you're going to collapse to the ground every two other steps, I suggest you at least accept some help." The General stretched a hand out with a knowing smirk. "A shoulder or two doesn't seem that bad now, does it?"

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

With Sephiroth's support and assistance, they managed to escape the scene fairly quickly. Once outside, breathing in the fresh air of the sea, Sephiroth allowed Cloud to crumple into a heap against a sturdy wall just beside the hole he had made. He set the Masamune aside and for the first time in good lighting assessed the damage that had been done on Cloud.

He was none too pleased with what he saw.

Cloud was still smoking. Literally smoking. The sturdy cloak he adorned had levelled and grounded most of the damage - and now Sephiroth could slightly understand why Cloud insisted on having the cloak on at all times. It was a natural shield that could, when all magical barriers failed, save its wearer from the jaws of death by a bare snatch. It did not look too damaged, but the energy blast had cooked it to some degree and currently there was smoke curling up from upon it. Beneath the cloak were the areas where the cloth had not been able to protect - and from there Sephiroth observed huge, awful red gashes still pouring with blood - currently showing no signs of stopping. /Better take care of these nasty wounds first.../ he thought to himself as he readied a Restore materia.

A gentle wind blew along the empty streets of Junon which the duo were currently located at, and all else that could be heard were the sashaying of palm leaves and the lapping of waves upon sand. Oblivious to the ambience, Sephiroth watched, perturbed, as the wounds that had been inflicted on Cloud refused to close up, no matter how powerful the cure. On the other hand, Cloud's skin colour was looking better now, and his tight, rapid breathing had slowed down to a normal wheeze. Frowning, he wondered what he was doing wrong.

Cracking open an eye, Cloud could see the hesitation in Sephiroth's movements. He smiled wistfully at the seriousness the General was displaying. "Thanks," he managed to croak, before descending into a chain of mind numbing coughs again. "You were a pretty nice guy actually..."

"... 'Were'?" Sephiroth repeated with slight bemusement. Cloud did not respond, and he saw no need to pursue. When another breeze blew along and Cloud shivered, he spoke up, "You'd better get out of that blood-soaked cloak of yours," a single gloved hand reaching out to tug at the hood of Cloud's large brown poncho even as he spoke, "otherwise you'll die of a cold anyway-"

A strong grip on his wrist forced Sephiroth to stop abruptly in his attempt to dehood the mercenary. Although not angry by any means, the strength Cloud displayed via this grip alone set Sephiroth wondering. Was this little mercenary not a broken, half-dead piece of meat just two seconds ago? As if in response to the SOLDIER's thoughts, Cloud's breathing accelerated again, evidently a signal of his agitation and unhealth.

"No..." he whispered softly, but fiercely, shaking his head while gritting his teeth at the pain it likely caused. "... please... not... not now. Don't..."

Sephiroth was, frankly, quite unable to understand what was Cloud's fixation to his veiled visage, and if this had been anyone else, he would have torn that offending piece of bloodied cape off without a second thought anyway. Anti-social sometimes he may be, but he wasn't one to stand by and watch as someone else chose to plunge into danger and death. Cloud, however, was not just 'anyone else.' Although highly unwilling, the General found himself yielding to the wishes of his companion. He sighed.

A peaceful silence settled over the harbour. The skies began to darken considerably, but neither Cloud nor Sephiroth was worried.

"You can't really tell there's a life and death battle going up there when you look at it from this angle, can you?" Sephiroth wondered aloud to himself with a ghost of a smile on his lips, all of a sudden. A brief flash of lightning answered him, streaking across the sky by riding on the greyish clouds.

"... right..." Cloud mumbled, head too heavy to process a sentence that was anymore complicated.

"I don't really blame the Sphere, though," Sephiroth continued, his pensive mood striking a chord deep in Cloud's heart. "I certainly feel for it, although I also think it could have chosen a better plan of action..." He trailed off, watching the skies again, thinking other thoughts to himself. He gripped the Masamune tentative, as if striving to seek comfort in something - anything. And although his expressions betrayed nothing, there was a tinge of longing, a snuff of helplessness visible in the sturdy man's eyes.

As if saying: Even the mightiest warriors had to bow to nature at one point of time or another. And when that time came, what good would the name of a mighty warrior be but yonder?

/I'm feverish... I just sprouted some philosophical crap... I'm not Vincent for crying out loud so... I must be delirious.../ Cloud thought to himself, as he stole a glance at his one-time goal in life, not able to do much at the moment due to severe physical limitations and evidently failing mental faculties. He remembered a time when he was younger - very much younger. Then, he always saw Sephiroth as a tower of reassurance; as did perhaps everybody else in the platoon. Sephiroth was a far-reaching goal at the distance, always present but never reachable. Something to strive towards but never attain; was the image Shinra had carved out of the man named Sephiroth.

And he would have continued to be, Cloud thought, if he hadn't started reading between the lines of Hojo's twisted experiments and collapsing eventually to the vicious administrations of the poisonous web of lies he had been spun into, and had spun around himself.

Because, Cloud knew, as he turned back to staring at the dark, fiery skies with a familiar looking asteroid hanging in the background - they; himself included, had all forgotten that beneath Sephiroth's carefully built walls...

... was a heart, as human as any other.

He had feelings. He could think. And like any other human, he needed reassurance too. He could not always be the one to depend on. Where were the people when /he/ needed to seek approval and agreement? There was none. Because no one thought they could reassure they Great General Sephiroth. It showed in all the little things.

Little things that were just the tip of the iceberg.

Unlike the other AVALANCHE members, Cloud alone saw Sephiroth as a victim caught in the crossfire. Fighting against the insane General had been a fight against his inner conscience as well. Briefly, he wondered if anybody ever noticed his internal turmoil before, during their journeys?

For, despite all that had happened, Cloud still believed that there could have been another way out.

Another way that would have satisfied both AVALANCHE, Shinra, Sephiroth, and the Planet.

Cloud knew for sure what AVALANCHE wanted. He was quite certain he knew what Shinra wanted. And to some extent, he knew what the Planet wanted too.

Only.

What would Sephiroth have wanted him to do?

The soft hum of a tune from a long time ago kept bugging Cloud at the back of his mind. It was an old, Nibelheim lullaby his mother used to sing to him. Since it was sung in an ancient tongue, he did not really know what it meant. He did know, however, that he had always thought it sounded sad, and thousands of years of not hearing the tune had not changed his perception of it any bit.

A little while later, he realised that /Sephiroth/ was the one who was humming the tune.

After one second of shock, Cloud reconciled the fact that Sephiroth could hum with the fact that he could hum a Nibelheim lullaby. He had grown up there too, after all. There was bound to have been something left in him that was Nibelheim. Cloud would have laughed himself silly if his lungs didn't hurt so much.

Suddenly very tired, the blond mercenary relaxed further into the wall and blinked wearily at the sky, with its foreboding clouds and foreboding tinge.

This sky that was filled with nothing but regret, for him.

He wish he hadn't placed Sephiroth on such a high pedestal when he was younger - like everyone else had. That was part of what had driven the General over the edge, no matter how he tried to disassociate the events.

He wished he had been braver, and had asked the General if he had been all right all those times he saw him looking despondant about something - instead of treating him like a superman, like he was needless of help and attention.

He wished he had the courage then to say that he didn't want to kill Sephiroth, no matter what the man had become.

And he wished.

That he could have known Sephiroth as a person - better.

Perhaps it was the fever. Perhaps it was the overwhelming guilt. Perhaps it was the tears that threatened to fall if he did not let his feelings out soon. Whatever it was, Cloud surprised even himself when he gathered the last of his energy towards his voice chords, and spoke the words he wished he had spoken a long, long time ago.

"... There was a man..."

It took the SOLDIER a while, but Sephiroth managed to mumble a soft, "Hmm?" in reply, breaking eye contact with the increasingly dark sky to give Cloud a sidelong glance.

Another gust of wind howled while passing through the tunnel into the road, before Cloud could be heard again.

"I knew this man..." The blond's voice was hollow but emotional. "... he was proud... powerful, just like the Sphere. And one day, just like the Sphere, he decided to turn against the world that had turned against him..." Breaking off to gasp for air, he caught sight of Sephiroth's attentive eyes, and quickly struggled to recover. "Perhaps... Perhaps he was justified in everything he did... ruining the lives of people who had ruined his life... but... did so many have to suffer just for him?" Another raspy cough forced its way out from his mouth, and Sephiroth began to look worried instead of interested. Cloud waved to indicate that he was all right, lowering his head before proceeding, "That man... I looked up to him. We all did. But he no longer cared about anything but destruction and mayhem-" The coughing got uncontrollably bad, and Sephiroth moved in quickly to pat the mercenary on his back.

"Calm down, Ipsen. Don't push yourself," he watched the blond try to subdue one body-shaking cough after another. "You can tell me about it later. Just relax now and-"

"No!!" Cloud's outburst took Sephiroth by surprise, and he almost leapt back out of pure instinct. After coughing a couple of times more, Cloud breathed deeply and continued almost angrily, "No! You don't understand! I had to kill him! They wanted me to kill him and I did! But I! But... But I didn't..." The blond bit back a cry of frustration, the consequences of his agitation setting in as he found himself completely depleted of energy again. "I didn't want to kill him... He was stark raving mad and he wiped my entire village out but I just didn't..." The mercenary sighed and lifted trembling hand up to cup his face. "... Maybe I just couldn't accept it... that someone as grand and ideal as him would fall... He seemed so sure and so stable... who would've thought he would be the first to descend the abyss of lunacy when the chance came? What if you...--"

"What if... one day... you became like that too?"

Though monotonous, Cloud's voice was brimming with unspoken emotions, causing Sephiroth to stare, as a wordless reply.

"What if," the blond continued, sounding, for some reason, pained and depressed, "one day, you forget yourself, forget those people around you and become hellbent on ruining lives? Become crazy, mad with rage, like the world had wronged you... like you needed to destroy it..."

There was an object pause as Cloud trailed at the last sentence. He appeared to have driven himself painfully into the wall, like how the final leg in every affair felt before the climax and recession, and was struggling with the courage and endurance to continue. Sephiroth waited patiently.

His gut told him that an important question awaited him at the end of it.

"... if you become like that..." the voice was so soft, Sephiroth almost missed hearing it. "... and Zack is no longer there to help... what would you do?" The mercenary jerked his head upwards to look at Sephiroth in the eye, wanting to hear as well as see what laid beyond the emerald depths.

"What would you have wanted me to do?"

Sephiroth took all but the whole of one second to digest and dissect the blond's words. "You ask well," he began slowly, leaning back against the wall and smiling plainly. "One can never be too sure when one will hit rock bottom, after all." He fingered his chin and appeared to be pondering the question seriously. "First of all," he said, brow creased in concentration, "if I mean anything to you at all, then you'll come after me. Chase me to the ends of the planet if need be." He smiled coyly at the observing Cloud, who turned away, embarrassed, but still hearing the next few words from his one time hero and idol.

"You will try to stop me."

Cloud turned back to staring at the General, who had, however, returned to staring at the skies. "And then if that fails," Sephiroth continued. "Then you will kill me."

A jolt of surprise shot through the blond. He opened his mouth to say something, but no voice escaped.

"If I really become like the Energy Sphere," Sephiroth glanced into the distance, an unreadable smile gracing his lips, "then I'd really prefer if you could come kill me." He stole a glance at the agape Cloud. "You are powerful enough. I trust you."

Twice Cloud tried to say something, each time ending up only managing to mouth the first vowel. Eventually he quietened down, still staring at Sephiroth and evidently still trying to say something. The silver-haired General simply stared back, privately amused. The blond may be quiet, but he was hardly known to be at a loss for words. This must have been an issue that had been bothering him for ages.

Eventually Cloud settled for a simple nod, face lowered, breathing even. "Is that so..." he whispered, sounding sad and hopeful at the same time. Overhead, a peal of thunder clapped and rumbled.

When the first droplets of rain landed on the harsh, storm beaten tar grounds, Cloud lifted his head to the heavens and sighed. "All these thousands of years..." he began, choking back what Sephiroth thought sounded dangerously like a sob, "... I've been living in guilt... wondering if there could have been a better way to solve the problem." He laughed, but it was a bitter laugh. "I had taken the easy way out. I did what everybody told me to do... I killed the one man I ever had any sincere regard for in my whole life..." His words trailed again, and he let the raindrops continue to patter on his skin and roll off his face. "I've never... had a peaceful night's rest since that day."

"Don't be silly," the disregarding way Sephiroth had said those words captured his attention. "I don't know who that man of yours is, but I think he must have been jumping for joy when you put him out of his lunatic misery," he wagged a finger at the shorter person, who once again was captivated by Sephiroth's authoritative ways. "Insanity is not a happy thing, Ipsen." He warned sternly, then smiled. "If I become insane, I will expect you to come kill me, you hear? I won't let anyone else kill me. Only you."

Cloud slowly faced the taller man, who smiled warmly back. He found his own unsmiling face twitching, and before he knew it, was stretching into a smile mirroring that of the gentle General's.

"You can count on it, Sephiroth," was the shakey reply.

"You can count on it..."

The rain continued falling, and bright flashes of light continued decorating the darkened sky and clouds.

But somehow, the day didn't seem so bad anymore.

 

\-------------------------------  
... end nineteen ...  
5/7/2004

a/n  
The doujinshi I based this chapter off is called Custodio Angel.


	20. Chapter 20

Standard disclaimers apply.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... timeless . ageless . changeless ...  
\--------------------------------------------------------------  
... twenty

 

Cloud and Sephiroth were trying very hard not to stare.

But when their object of current frustration went by the name of Zack, it proved to be a rather difficult task.

"And then there was this loud bang! Then this lightning bolt the size of /this whole street/," the dark-haired SOLDIER was saying, while gesturing to both ends of the empty streets, oblivious to the fact that they were all either sitting or standing in the middle of a torrential rainstorm. "It just came crashing against me! With a big boom! And a loud crack! And-"

"And to cut a long story short," Vincent sighed while interrupting, "while Zack distracted the Sphere with his annoying antics, I sneaked up on it and blasted it with the Indicator, effectively sealing it. It was a good thing the Sphere's energy level as at an all time low, though," the raven-haired mercenary shook his head. "Because even at its lowest ebb the Sphere put up quite a fight against the Indicator." Whisking the metallic device out from his cloak, he slowly bent down and handed it over to Cloud, who was still sitting against the wall, breathing heavily, a hand over the large gash on his torso. "And I believe these are yours too?" Vincent continued, opening his metallic hand to reveal a couple of glistening materia orbs.

The blond stared suspiciously at the materias for a while. "Why didn't the Sphere use them to cast anything?" He asked.

"Well you can be sure it tried," Zack cut in, wagging a finger. "Except that for some strange reason, the materia just wouldn't react! I think they could tell that it was a bad guy! And bad guys just don't get any rights!" He grinned.

"Somehow I don't think that was the case," Cloud mumbled wryly, shooting a glance at Sephiroth. He took the materia from Vincent's hand and clasped them in his own, breathing suddenly slowing. "... it couldn't cast because it had no Mako in it, wasn't it?" He spoke, his voice growing softer and softer with each syllabus. Looking at the fully charged Indicator in his other hand, where the Sphere was now sealed, he smiled wistfully. "The planet doesn't listen to people who don't belong to it. Silly little thing."

Zack, in the meantime, had tiptoed closer and closer to Sephiroth. When he was within whispering range, he quietly remarked to his superior, while inclining his head as inconspicuously as he could in Cloud's direction. "Do we normally let a heavily wounded soldier stay out in the rain like that, sir?"

The General's bottom jaw twitched slightly. "No, Zack. But Ipsen is not a soldier. And neither is he /normal/, per se, in case you've forgotten?"

Zack looked like he was about to respond, but clamped his mouth shut suddenly, looking past Sephiroth's shoulder to where the time travellers were. Following his line of sight, Sephiroth too found himself watching as Cloud slowly rose to his feet with Vincent's help. Every inch of success he had, a pint of blood must have poured out from the various unhealed gashes on his body, decorating the floor with a crimson red. The blood slowly spread along with the rain puddles, until Sephiroth could see that his boots were now surrounded, not by fresh rain, but a fresh coat of red paint by the name of blood.

Something queasy stirred from deep within him.

He could not help but feel extremely uncomfortable despite having seen an endless supply of bloodshed during all his warring years.

"... Thanks," it was Cloud, muttering his gratitude to Vincent, who nodded and then let go of the blond's hand. Immediately the man stumbled, but regained his balance with the help of the wall. An instinctive urge within the General told him that he needed to step forward to offer a helping hand, but the stern glance Vincent was giving him did nothing to encourage the idea, and thus he dropped it as quickly as it came. Cloud continued leaning against the wall, until finally, he pushed off it and stood firmly on his two feet, his huge sword beside him as a temporary crutch.

In that moment, there was nothing but the sound of the heavy rain. The raindrops beat down noisily on the fresh tar; on the new buildings; on the calm seas - a melodious rhaspody of nature. Perhaps there were words, but they simply got lost in the noise. Currently, it appeared like the art of silence and mind-reading reigned amongst the four as they attempted to figure out what would be the next word to come out from each others' mouths.

The silence was broken when Zack laughed quietly to himself.

Almost immediately after that, the tension in the air eased. "Hey Ipsen," the SOLDIER 1st was saying, the smile on his face looking genuine and not plastered for once. "Congratulations on a mission well done. You know, if I were you, I would have given up somewhere in between the Mythril Mines and Fort Condor, frankly." He winked at the suddenly blushing mercenary, whose memories of that embarrassing episode of his life was jolted again. "So this means you're going off now? Not even gonna stay for a cup of party tea?"

It was only at times like these that Sephiroth felt glad to have Zack as a subordinate cum spokesman. Those were questions he wanted answers to as well, but would have never been able to ask overtly. He awaited, silently, for the mercenaries to give their replies.

"We would love to stay," Vincent eventually spoke up, sounding so humdrum that Sephiroth had a hard time deciding if he was just trying to be polite or whether he did mean what he said. "But if we don't get help for Lord Avon's injuries soon, he is going to rot away under the large amount of energy residue that has snagged him the wrong way." He shot a brief glance at his partner. "I'm surprised he hasn't already started rotting yet, actually."

The two SOLDIERS stared first at the mercenaries, then at each other. Sephiroth recovered first, immediately voicing out his indignance - "He is going to /what/?"

"Human skin can't usually touch pure, raw energy without burning up like a set of deep fried chicken wings," Cloud explained, one hand on the Ultima Weapon and the other fiddling with the Indicator, trying to quickly program the coordinates that would send them back to their time. He could feel dizziness setting in as he slowly became aware of just /how/ much blood he had lost. "But because of our Mako enhanced bodies, we are able to take more hits for a longer period of time-" he coughed suddenly, bile and blood running up his throat, waiting to be let out through his mouth. When the fit was over he hastily wiped at his mouth with his cloak, and returned to keying in the numerals necessary for the trek. He continued, "-... that doesn't mean we get away scot-free. It still hurts like mad, and if not treated correctly; quickly, the risk of death is still there."

The Indicator made a whirring noise, its sharp, red glow gradually changing into a soothing green, reflecting perfectly off Cloud's veiled visage. It shot two quiet beams of green light via its antennas into the far distance, piercing through the raindrops and general mist, rotating about and around, as if trying to find a good spot for their ultimate rendevous.

A few seconds later, their processing apparently completed, they met at a common point of convergence and flared outwards to form a chaotic, swirling portal - framed by fraying edges of white flames. The green beams returned to the Indicator once their job of dimensional cutting was complete, and when he realised that, Cloud sighed and slumped onto one knee in weariness.

"Are you all right?" Vincent asked, although he had yet to move to help. If there was anything Cloud valued more than his life, it was probably his hidden pride. The blond shifted uneasily, then jerked his head upwards to give a slurred reply.

"I'm okay..."

With silence, Vincent chose not to question that.

A while later, after struggling slowly to his feet, Cloud began limping towards Sephiroth, stopping just an arm's length away from the taller, noticeably confused person. The blond kept his eyes trained on his shoes and tried to calm his breathing.

There were so many things he wanted to say to his childhood hero, and so many things he wanted to warn him against.

But the longer he stood before the man, head bowed, the faster he felt the words slipping from his mind.

Finally, he took Sephiroth's free hand and pressed something into it, slowly retreating to where Vincent stood having done that. "I need your help," he said to the astonished warrior from the distance.

"... Oh?" Was Sephiroth's intelligent response.

"Yes," Cloud nodded, too tired to be sarcastic. "Remember Meteor and Holy?" He asked rhetorically, and Sephiroth nodded. "Good... because I need you to stop Meteor with Holy before it even enters the atmosphere," the mercenary paused to cough, "... I can't stay any longer. I really need this favour Sephiroth. You have the materia, you know what to do..."

The rest of Cloud's words were lost in a jumble of background noise, as Sephiroth opened his palm to see what it was the mercenary had put there before bounding off like a frightened rabbit. Although he already had a rough idea what it could possibly be, he still could not help but stare wide-eyed at the two materia orbs sitting in his palm when he did open it.

The orbs sparkled slightly, as if trying to sharing a secret with him, understanding his confusion.

"... and then after all of that you can bury the materias in the Ancient City... arrrgh," Cloud finally stopped yapping, grabbing the area around his heart in pain. "Let's go, Colin," he said, when it didn't seem like Sephiroth was going to protest his assignment. "The planet is counting on your help, General Sephiroth!" He saluted awkwardly, by way of departure, amidst pain that throbbed from within and without. Quickly, the mercenaries turned and whisked towards the flaring portal, where on the other side awaited a world they were much more familiar with.

Much more comfortable with.

Regaining his senses just as Vincent vanished first into the portal, Sephiroth opened his mouth to say something - anything at the strangers who had grown to become part of the adventurous side of his life. Even Zack was unusually quiet, and for a while Sephiroth wondered if his second-in-command was even there at all.

He saw, a few steps away from where they stood, Cloud turn around to regard them silently from the corner of his eyes, although with his hood and veil they certainly could not read what his expressions said. At this point of time Zack sighed and cupped his hands together to give a mock shout - "Hey!" - as if instead of a narrow street, they were separated by a large valley rift. "Are we gonna ever see you again?"

They could see a small smile tug at the blond's lips, despite the mercenary's valiant attempts to curb it. "Of course," Cloud said, and Sephiroth wondered how such a soft voice could pierce through the noisy rain to reach their ears, "if you look hard enough."

Unsure about what the cryptic message meant, Zack pressed on, "So that's a yes?"

"It's a conditional yes, Zack," Sephiroth mildly reminded the SOLDIER.

"I don't do conditions, sir!" Zack replied cheerfully. Even Cloud snickered slightly at the cheeriness of the porcupine head. "I'm taking that as a yes, you!" He sternly warned the mercenary, who said nothing in reply. "And one last thing before you disappear completely from our lives, my friend," Zack turned grave and stared at the distant blond attentively.

"Your name, please?"

Both Cloud and Sephiroth stared at Zack like they had just seen Hojo in his birthday suit.

"Seriously now," Zack continued, not a muscle on his face twitching. "'Ipsen Avon' is not your real name. It's not the name you give to those you consider to be your friends. That much I can tell," he eventually broke into a soft smile. "Are we your friends? Come on. We won't use your name for voodoo or dark arts or anything. Tell us! Please?"

Cloud knew he did not have much time to think, and although he could have easily avoided the question by stepping into the portal there and then, he instead chose to mouth softly, the words he had not heard spoken to him for centuries.

"My name," he said, "is Cloud... Strife." He smiled despite his pain. "And I'm sure... you'll see me again. Really. You will. If you pay a little bit more attention..."

Without explaining what those words meant, Cloud bowed with a nod and stepped into the portal whole. A few flickering seconds later, the dimension nexus swallowed itself shut, changing its chaotic central back to the peaceful backdrop of the Junon ocean.

The rain began to simmer.

"You see? You see?" Zack eventually yammered, while elbowing Sephiroth on his side. "I /told/ you needed to work on your sociability! See! You let the little guy go without saying anything! And he was so waiting for you to say something, too!"

Sephiroth snapped out of the trance he had been in from since just now and scolded mildly, "Why would he want me to say anything to him for?"

Zack immediately gaped with a dramatic pause. "You... You couldn't tell?"

"Tell what?"

The darker-haired SOLDIER shook his head. "Whatever that little guy did," he said, slowly and calmly, like he was the patient grandmother rebuking an unruly child, "he was constantly listening to your opinions and trying to gain your approval - covertly, of course. And all those furtive glances he kept giving you! He looked up to you, Sephiroth," the SOLDIER shrugged. "Of course, I really don't see /what/ he sees in a walking human cactuar like you, but that's besides the point and-OUCH!"

"Come on, SOLDIER, we have a meteorite to crush," Sephiroth whisked off, after knocking Zack's head with the butt of his sword. His other hand clasped onto the two materia orbs he had been given tightly, and a strange sense of power overwhelmed him for a while. That feeling soon settled back down, and he was filled with nothing but the thoughts of purging an alien shooting star from this planet before the media started slapping one sensational report after another that would likely spread the worst points of the news.

For some reason, he was sure he would see Cloud again.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

"That wasn't a very wise thing to do," Vincent was saying to Cloud, after they had gotten the blond settled and stabled in the energy laboratory, where after an hour or so of battling against the large, nasty wounds Cloud had, the professors had declared him fit to move around again with assistance, although observation was still required.

Currently, the blond sat by a card vending machine, holding a cup of hot ginger in his hands. Times would change and so would the ways of dispensing drinks, but hot ginger would always be hot ginger, and Vincent would always be Vincent, the blond mused to himself. He sipped his drink and pointedly ignored the raven-haired man.

"Are you listening to me, Cloud?" Said raven-haired man frowned and glanced at the seated blond, slight irritation evident in his eyes and tone. "You seem pretty confident that the timeline suffered no dent from our interference."

Finishing his drink quickly in one gulp, Cloud sighed in relief. It felt good to be warm. He glanced downwards and smiled into the empty cup. "Ah, but you see," he grinned as much alike to Zack as he could, "the Junon cannon was mounted, Meteor never crush Gaia, and I did find the black and white materias in the Ancient City, just as I had asked him to bury them there." The smile was now a beam.

"I think, Vincent, that our return to the past was more pivotal in shaping some of the major events in our earlier lives than we thought was possible."

Ruby red eyes glowing slightly at that statement, Vincent eventually turned away and leaned against the wall beside Cloud, content to watch the laboratory RoboAssistants and flustered professors dart to and fro the peaceful but busy white corridors.

His reply was tired and resigned.

"Only you can come up with logic like that, Cloud."

A grin. "I know."

Silence.

"Now that you're done with your drink, are you going to go back to your ward with quiet and dignity, or do I have to cart you there like a little girl?"

"..."

"..."

"Tell me frankly, Vincent. Are you /related/ to Sephiroth?!!"

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

Somewhere in the infantry, Sephiroth sneezed and Zack nearly fainted.

"No!" Zack tried to sit as far away from the silver-haired General as he could. "Don't tell me /you/ caught a cold! /You/ caught a cold?! Argh! The world is coming to an end and I haven't proposed to Aerith yet!! No!!"

"Quiet!" Sephiroth stepped roughly on Zack's foot beneath the table. He picked up the next file on the table and all but threw it into the SOLDIER's face. "You do the next one! I still have to fill out something for the previous guy," he picked his pen up and began writing.

Zack sighed. "Why in the world are we stuck here interviewing potential SOLDIER candidates anyway?" He grumbled unhappily, opening the file and signalling to the SOLDIER 3rd standing near the door to admit the next person. "This is Shinra's bright idea, recruiting pasty scholar faces from all over the globe by interviewing them in an /office/ when he should know that real soldiers don't /do/ offices! Why do /we/ have to do this anyway? What kind of a reason was, 'SOLDIER 3rds are too unimportant and unmotivational for a recruitment drive like this!'?! He thinks we have a lot of time, doesn't he? I have a good mind to just march to his penthouse of a bureau and give him a...- oh. Oh my goodness. My. Goodness."

Although having tuned Zack's incessant complaining out to a low drone in the background, Sephiroth could not help but notice the sudden change in his tone of voice. He stopped writing and glanced at Zack from the corner of his eyes, noticing that the latter had practically frozen in action and was staring at the file he had just laid open on the desk before them. "What is it?" The silver-haired General asked, curious at the uncharacteristic silence.

After a short while, Zack blinked and his frozen facade melted away into a mischievous grin. Looking at his superior in the eye, he pointedly shut the file with a loud whap and chirped, "I think I'll let the next cadet tell you that himself, General, sir!"

"What are you talking about?" Sephiroth was miffed and made an attempt to grab the profile document from Zack, unsuccessfully. "Give me that, Zack," he grounded out with chafe. "Or else."

"Or else, nothing, sir," the spikey-headed man continued pulling the file out of Sephiroth's reach. "None of your threats ever come to fulfillment - there's just too many forms to fill out for a pay cut and a transfer of assignment, especially for your second in command." His smile was still well in place. "Don't be silly, General. You'll just have to wait for the next guy to step in. I promise you it'll be worth it."

"I have learned from since the very moment you rained the Wutai palace with chocobo dung not to trust any of your ideas, Zack. Never, ever again."

"Aww, come on, Sephiroth!"

"No! Now hand that file over!"

"Just a while more!"

"Hand it over now, Zack!"

"Please??"

"Um... excuse me... ?"

"What is it?" Sephiroth turned his attention away from Zack immediately, Mako eyes flaring dangerously at the interruption. Zack took the opportunity to quickly hide the file somewhere safe and out of reach. The cadet who had just stepped into the room winced and lowered his head.

"I'm sorry. I was asked to come in by the SOLDIER 3rd but if you're busy at the moment, I can wait for a while outside-"

"Tell us your name, soldier," Zack cut the boy off, leaning forward on the desk with a glint of anticipation in his eye.

Taken aback at the request, the scrawny-looking blond soldier looked up with nervous blue eyes, blinked, and said, "... eh?"

"Name and rank, boy!" Zack pointed dramatically in a random direction. "One for the General, come on!"

Sephiroth stared. And so did the cadet. Unlike the General, who likely thought Zack was in yet another one of his crazy moods, however, the young boy saluted smartly and stated, "Yes, sir!

"Private Cloud Strife, at your service, sir!"

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

By the time Zack had stopped laughing at Sephiroth's incredulous look, the entire recruitment interview had to be halted and postponed to when the General's second in command was more coherent, according to the reports. Sephiroth himself had been too shell-shocked to really continue doing any work after that, anyway. Shinra gossip mongers were in an uproar over it for several weeks, and the poor boy Cloud returned to his platoon wondering what he had done that could have possibly set one SOLDIER laughing his guts out and the other gawking like there would be no tomorrow to do it.

At the laboratory, a bored, much older Cloud was flipping through several cyber-channels while resting in his assigned ward. His lips quirked into a smile in random remembrance that particular page of his life during his younger days.

"I always did wonder why Zack was laughing so hard during my interview, and why Sephiroth looked like he'd just suffered from a heart attack. Well, it took a few thousand years, but..." Relaxing, he switched the teletube off and hurled the controller onto the couch next to Vincent. "... Now I know."

The duo remained in mutual silence for the next few seconds.

And then.

"No, Cloud, we are not going back in time anymore just to see if we can find answers to the questions you've always in that lifetime."

"..."

"..."

"Stop reading my mind, Vincent!"

 

\-------------------------------  
... the end ...  
6/7/2004


End file.
